"hurricane" news and stories

Many people dream of living in a paradise of sand, sea, and sun, sipping cold cocktails. Our bar, Casa Cóctel, is in just such a paradise in Baja California Sur, Mexico, where we get about 360 days a year of sunshine. However, we are about to head into hurricane season so we're busy preparing the arsenal of emergency lights, big jugs of water, and the fixings for stormy-weather drinks.

It's hard to beat a classic Dark and Stormy, a highball in the "mule" family of drinks. A mule (also known as a buck) is a highball made with spirit, ginger beer or ale, and citrus, such as the Moscow Mule made famous by Smirnoff vodka. Often described as the national drink of Bermuda, the Dark and Stormy is a mule with a registered trademark by Gosling's rum. We love the Dark and Stormy made simply with 1.5 ounces of Gosling's Black Seal Rum over ice and topped with ginger beer and a squeeze of lime.

One of New Orleans' famous restaurants turned traumatic storms into one of the city's most well known cocktails, the Hurricane. Pat O'Brien survived as a speakeasy owner during Prohibition with his eponymous joint. During the Second World War, wholesalers forced bars to order many cases of rum in order to get other desired spirits that were in short supply. Pat O'Brien's served a crowd-pleasing cocktail with a hefty amount of rum in a glass shaped like a hurricane lamp, thus, the name. Sadly the original recipe seems to be lost. Pat O'Brien's now serves their drink made with a commercially bottled pre-mix. Their signature glasses are one of the most sought after souvenirs by visitors. (We hear that the glasses hold about $10 in pennies if you don't serve Hurricanes at home and are trying to figure out what to do with that souvenir.)

Happy Mardi Gras folks! Just about everyone who has been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans has had one of Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes. A tall red drink served in a 24 oz. Hurricane glass which looks like the tall glass chimney of an old fashioned oil hurricane lamp. Sipping a Hurricane is one of the most popular ways to celebrate when in New Orleans, and I've had my share back in the years when I made my annual pilgrimage to Mardi Gras. It's a tasty drink with a bit of a kick, the saving grace is that it is served in a tall glass filled with ice so you can sip it slowly. If you slurp it down fast, then after a few you're gonna feel like you went through a hurricane yourself. Your clothes will start to come off, your popularity will soar, and you'll soon be wearing a lot of Mardi Gras beads and pearls.

Pat O'Brien operated a speakeasy during prohibition called Mr. O'Brien's Club Tipperary. The semi-secret password to get in was "storm's brewin". Then in 1933 after the repeal of prohibition Pat O'Brien moved
across the street and opened Pat O'Brien's and a while later in 1942 moved to the present location at 718 St. Peter Street. The Hurricane was created at Pat O'Brien's some time in the 1940's during the war years. Whiskey was hard to get but rum was plentiful and to order a case of whiskey a bar had to order as many as 50 cases of rum first. So Pat O'Brien created this punch like drink to make use of the available rum.

Though the meaning of a hurricane associated with New Orleans has been forever tarnished by the disasters of late summer 2005, when it's time for Mardi Gras, a Hurricane is a fruity tropical cocktail made with rum and passion fruit juice.

The Hurricane was invented at Pat O'Briens, a bar in New Orleans, during World War II. The story has it that during WWII, popular liquors like whiskey were scarce, but rum was plentiful. As is the case with the origin of many drinks, Pat O'Brien created the cocktail out of necessity: to use up all that rum! The drink is named "Hurricane" for the hurricane lamp that was used to serve the fruity rum cocktail.

For one, in a cocktail shaker, combine 1 ounce each of light rum, dark rum, orange juice and lime juice. Add 1 Tbsp of passion fruit syrup (or 4 Tbsp passion fruit juice), and 1 tsp. superfine sugar. Shake until sugar dissolves. Serve over ice in a hurricane glass.

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Cajun vs. Creole: Ragin' Cajun

Cajun vs. Creole: King Creole

Recipe: King Cake

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