Celebrating Mardi Gras with a New Orleans Hurricane

Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. The last day to indulge, imbibe, and get intoxicated before midnight strikes and Ash Wednesday arrives. You can’t fully celebrate Mardi Gras without a cocktail in hand. And what cocktail is more fitting than the New Orleans Hurricane.

Back in the 1940s, New Orleans bar owner Pat O’Brien faced an inventory issue of way too much rum. Distributors found themselves with lots of post-prohibition rum and would force bar owners to purchase large quantities of it before they could purchase the more popular scotch and whiskey. Because he had to move this inventory quickly, he created a recipe for a drink to use up the rum. His creation was poured into a hurricane-lamp shaped glass and The Hurricane was born. He gave the drink away to sailors and the drink caught on.

Today The Hurricane is a staple of the French Quarter. While you can still get your souvenir hurricane glass inside a bar, the drink is now mostly served in plastic throw-away cups so it can be consumed on the streets of the French Quarter. The original recipe called for two parts rum (half light, half dark), one part passion fruit juice, and one part lime juice. While this is definitely a sweeter drink, it is not nearly as syrupy sweet as what is served now. The current recipe at Pat O’Brien’s calls for the house-made powder-mix packaged and sold to the public. (No fresh ingredients; just artificial colors and flavors. It really does deserve to be in a plastic cup.)

Original Hurricane
1.5 oz light rum
1.5 oz dark rum
1 oz passion fruit juice or syrup
¾ oz lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a Hurricane glass filled with ice.

Contemporary Hurricane
1.5 oz light rum
1.5 oz dark rum
1 oz orange juice
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 cup passion fruit juice, or 1 tablespoon passion fruit syrup
1 oz simple syrup
1 teaspoon grenadine
Serve over crushed or cracked ice and garnish with an orange slice and stemmed cherry.

Cocktail conversation
During prohibition in the 1930s, the club was known by the name “Mr. O’Brien’s Club Tipperary.” As with most underground drinking establishments of that time, a password was required for entry. The Pat O’Brien Bar opened December 3, 1933, only two days before the end of Prohibition.

Happy Fat Tuesday. And as they say in the French Quarter, laissez les bon temps rouler!