A punch-like drink known as the Hurricane is synonymous with New Orleans and the go-to drink for celebrating Mardi Gras.

Residents of New Orleans drink them too, says Jordan Scott, who lived there for six years, “but only one because it’s so freaking sweet. It’s like a hangover in a glass, honestly.”

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Scott, the bar manager at The Corner Room in Portland, says the official drink of New Orleans is actually the Sazerac — but you can add the Hurricane, the Pimm’s Cup and the Hand Grenade to the list of the best-known cocktails in the Big Easy.

“The rumor is that (the Hurricane) debuted at the 1939 World’s Fair, but I don’t know how accurate that is,” Scott said. “They had these glasses there that looked like hurricane lanterns, so they named it the Hurricane.”

The drink was made famous by Pat O’Brien’s French Quarter bar. The story goes that during World War II, when whiskey was in short supply, liquor salesmen forced bar owners to buy as many as 50 cases of rum in order to get a single case of coveted whiskey. O’Brien invented the Hurricane as a way to use all that rum.

Stay away from Hurricane recipes that include vodka and gin, Scott advises, because authentic Hurricanes contain only rum.

The most difficult part of making the drink is finding passion fruit juice, but a search of specialty stores or ethnic groceries may turn up some of this key ingredient. Scott tracked down some passion fruit puree through one of her suppliers; she’ll be using it in the Hurricanes she’s planning to serve all day at The Corner Room on Fat Tuesday.

If you can’t find passion fruit juice, you can try substituting orgeat syrup with a little bit of orange juice and pineapple, Scott said, but she doesn’t recommend it.

“You can fudge it slightly,” she said, “but it’s more like a mai tai then. There’s not much you can do other than the passion fruit. That really is what is key to a Hurricane.” 

Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:
mgoad@pressherald.com