Hurricane Irene

Funny thing about storms on the horizon. Beer selection, along with supplies of D batteries, bottled water and canned goods are pretty well depleted in the stores. What to do when you can't stock up on your beer brand in the face of a hurricane? Why, invent a cocktail with a theme, of course!

We never enter into a cocktail creation lightly. Brainstorming for meaningful connections to the occasion is required. To create the Hurricane Irene, we decided it must be swirled at high velocity in a blender. Since hurricanes and tropical storms originate in the tropics (duh), the drink should have a tropical flavor and a rum base, but not one of those overly optimistic sweet mango-and-papaya-doing-the-limbo-in-the-Bahamas drinks you get on a cruise. Garnish is impractical. We wouldn't want the umbrella to blow away. So far, not hard. The color should be that of stormy waters and finished with foam.

After much thought and deliberation, we arrived at the following:

Hurricane Irene
1 1/2 oz. white rum
1 1/2 oz. dark rum
3 oz. passion fruit liqueur (Hypnotic or Alize are two brands)
1 oz. peach schnapps
6 oz. grapefruit juice
Combine all in a blender with plenty of ice. Serve in (you guessed it) a hurricane glass!

The rum originates with the tropical storm forming in Jamaica. The storm picks up some speed, is upgraded to hurricane (category 3) and may pass through Florida for some grapefruit. Georgia is possibly on the itinerary, so grab some peach schnapps while you're there.

Down the hatch (battened down).

Cheers & Bottoms Up!

Kim & Pam