Hawaiian Sunset Cocktail
When I think of tiki cocktails I think of rum. Lots and lots of rum. So, you can understand my surprise when several of the cocktails listed in the new Smuggler’s Cove tiki book don’t list rum as the number one liquor. As a matter of fact, a lot of them don’t use any rum at all.
I’ve already made a few of the classics in the book that don’t use rum. They were so good, I thought I’d make another one. As I said, this one doesn’t have a drop of rum in it. It uses vodka. But just because it’s vodka doesn’t mean it’s not a tiki cocktail. It still uses some of the classic ingredients that other tiki drinks use, like citrus juices and orgeat. But what really makes it a classic tiki cocktail is where it came from and of course its name.
It’s called a Hawaiian Sunset and it came from Las Vegas. Wait, Vegas? That’s not Hawaiian or Polynesian. How does Las Vegas fit into the world of tiki? Well, it just so happens that there was a restaurant in the now defunct Stardust Hotel called the Aku Aku Polynesian Restaurant. It opened in 1960 and closed a short 20 years later. The restaurant was very popular while it was open and many a tiki cocktail was created and imbibed inside. I know I stick to cocktails created before 1960, but I felt a drink created at such an iconic restaurant deserved a mention.
The fact that it’s delicious is just a bonus, and proves that not all tiki drinks need rum to be part of the tiki lexicon.
Hawaiian Sunset
Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 oz. vodka
- 1/2 oz. lemon juice
- 1/2 oz. lime juice
- 1/2 oz. orgeat syrup
- 1 teaspoon grenadine
Directions:
- Pour all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with a twist of lime and serve.
