HALEKULANI - The Hawaiian tiki drink for whiskey lovers

Welcome back, friends. It's Anders. Today, we're going to be making a tropical drink called the Hale Kulani, which hails from Hawaii, Oahu, specifically. It's almost 100 years old, dates back to the 1930s, and it is whiskey-based. So although it's often lumped in with tiki drinks, it's very different. It doesn't fit the mold of your standard tiki drink. So we're going to talk about it, and we're going to make it. I really like this drink. Hope you do, too. If you're new to the channel, hit that subscribe button for more tips, tips, and recipes, and let's go make the Hale Kulani to the bar. So the Hale Kulani cocktail. Let's talk about the origins of this drink, all right? It was created almost 100 years ago, in the 1930s, at a place called the Hale Kulani Hotel. So this was a hotel cocktail, specifically at the house without a key, which was the lounge inside the hotel. The hotel's still there, by the way, and I looked online. They had some featured cocktails. I did not see the Hale Kulani, so I don't know if they're still making this drink there or not, but they were a while back, 1930s. And this is important that we point out the year here, because this was shortly before the tiki phenomenon took off in the United States, California specifically, with Don the Beachcomber. The thing is, this cocktail is often lumped in with all those other tiki drinks, but the Hale Kulani was actually created on an actual Polynesian island, as opposed to the drinks that were being created at the other escapist-themed establishments over in California. Also, the Hale Kulani is bourbon-based, as opposed to rum. Rum is dominant in the tiki world, but this one's bourbon-based, and it's served up. Most tiki drinks are served on crushed ice. So there are some key differences here. However, this is still a nice, fun, juicy, refreshing, tropical drink. There is a standard build for this drink. There are a number of different tiki and tropical cocktail books that have featured this cocktail. The first place I saw it was in the book Sippin' Safari by Beach Bum Berry, but it's also in Smuggler's Cove by Martin Cate, and it's in Tiki Modern Tropical Cocktails by Shannon Mustapher. All three great books. All three have the Hale Kulani in them, and all three recipes are extremely similar. So I'm not going to mess with the ratios too much, because this really is a nice, balanced drink. But I am going to split the base spirit, which is usually just bourbon, I'm going to split that with rye, because I really like it that way. And we'll talk about the tasting notes as we taste it. First, the booze. To make the Hale Kulani, we will need bourbon, rye whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, rich Demerara syrup, grenadine, and Angostura bitters. That's it. That's all you need. It's quite a bit. I realize that. But I'm going to talk you through it. So the base is a split of bourbon and rye. That's the one I'm making. Traditionally, it is just bourbon. But here's the deal. I like the split with the rye, so I'm doing that. If you just have a bottle of bourbon, that's going to be great. If you just have a bottle of rye, that's going to be good. If you want to do what I'm doing, split the base. Juices, lemon, orange, pineapple. Fresh is best. Always fresh is best. Demerara syrup is going to be the one thing to balance out the lemon juice. The grenadine is actually more of just an accent. It's just a little bit. I would recommend, of course, as always, using a good tart grenadine like the one I've got here with Portland Syrups. And then the Angostura bitters, also just a little bit. So with that, let's build. Some of you might be thinking, Anders, are you going to do a regal shake because I know you like to do that when you've got orange juice in your drink. No, I am not. Because I've got these other things happening here. The lemon juice, the tartness of the lemon juice really does help with the orange and it's not an overpowering orange flavor. We are going to shake this cocktail and serve it up. Get your glassware chilled. In a shaking tin, let's start with the bourbon. Three quarters of an ounce of bourbon. To that, three quarters of an ounce of rye whiskey. Again, if you only have one of the two whiskeys, an ounce and a half of whiskey. Now I'm going to add half an ounce of the rich Demerara syrup, half ounce of fresh lemon juice, half ounce of orange juice, half ounce pineapple juice, one bar spoon or five milliliters of grenadine. I'm going to stir it up, get the grenadine off the spoon and then one full dash of Angostura bitters. Now we can add ice and shake. Double strain into your cocktail glass. All we have to do now is garnish and you can do that however you see fit. Maybe a slice of pineapple, orchid. I'm going to do three little pineapple fronds. There it is. Ladies and gentlemen, the Hale Kulani. Cheers. Ozzy, you want to taste this? Well, sure. What? Well, sure I would. Woohoo. Welcome. Wait, what? So long. Okay. This reminds me of, you know, that like in Mario Kart, there's that one character that has the big eyes and he has like the spikies on the side. Yeah, one of the Koopas. Yeah. It's looking very foamy and frothy. Cheers. Mmm. It's very fruity. It's very easy to drink. What do you think with the whiskey in there? I like it. I can taste it. I can taste it, but it's not overpowering. Mmm. I think that's really nice. The reason why I decided to split the bourbon and rye is that I do like it with just the bourbon, but when I did that, I tasted a lot of vanilla and oak. And so I tried it with rye. And when I did that, I tasted more floral notes. I think that came out from the grenadine and the pineapple juice. So then I tried to split and it was the Goldilocks zone for me. It tastes like I should be drinking this on a beach somewhere. So I hope you like it. What do you think? Oh, I was just downloading the newest update. I'm sorry. The little Koopa guy from Mario Kart. What is that guy called? What is that guy's name? Is that Iggy? Iggy! Is it Iggy? Well, it's not. He's not from Mario Kart. He's from something else. Guys, I'm really good at Mario Kart. Andres is too. It's not a challenge, but maybe, maybe. Lemmy. Lemmy Koopa. Not Iggy. What's Iggy? Oh, Lemmy. This looks just like Lemmy. Oh, he's got that sprout. No, it is kind of like Iggy. That's identical. Not saying I'm challenging anyone to a Mario Kart race, but just putting that out there. It kind of sounds like you are. Well, there it is. I hope everybody enjoyed this one. Thank you for watching. Grab your grenadine. Grab your merch. Sign up for the newsletter. We'll see you next time. Cheers. Goodbye. Namely, sippy sipari. MrBeachBumBerry, if you're watching this, I hope you caught that. I really enjoy the book, Sippy Sipari.