Blue Hawaii cocktail recipe

In the early 1930s, before Hawaii became a US state, America produced a wildly popular movement known as tiki culture. This simplistic blend of trans-Pacific aesthetics spread to countries the world over, and it has curiously found enduring appeal in dozens of delicious ‘exotic’ cocktails inspired by the tropical flavours of the Caribbean.

In 1957, at Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village Hotel (later the Hilton) in Waikiki, a blue curaçao sales rep asked legendary bartender Harry K Yee (he was the first to use mini-paper umbrellas in drinks!) to develop a new cocktail to drive sales of the vibrant liqueur. The result? Blue Hawaii. It is important to note that we’re talking about the Blue Hawaii – not the Blue Hawaiian. The Blue Hawaii is the original; it contains vodka, sweet-and-sour-mix (fresh lime juice and sugar syrup in our recipe) and does not contain crème de coconut, whereas the Blue Hawaiian does.

Cocktails run the gamut from classy to brooding, from effervescent to intense, with all manner of moods and impressions in between. Blue Hawaii has ‘resort life’ written all over it. It’s the kind of cocktail that conjures thoughts of the places we’d rather be or brings back memories of sun, sand and a good beach read. Crush up some ice, invite your friends around and prepare to sail away with a Blue Hawaii or two. Ånd don’t forget the cocktail umbrellas.

Just don’t be alarmed if your Blue Hawaii isn’t perfectly blue. Remember preschool colour theory? Blue (curaçao) and yellow (pineapple juice) make green. Enjoy!

If you want to impress your guests, or you’re just feeling a bit fancy, the Blue Hawaii can be served as a layered cocktail. First, pour the blue curaçao into a glass and top with crushed ice. Second, shake the other ingredients, then carefully strain into the ice-filled glass to create a layer over the blue curaçao. Third, garnish and serve. For the advanced, consider serving Blue Hawaii with a rum float.

Crushed ice is key to crafting a Blue Hawaii that has a summery slushy consistency. To crush ice, you can use your blender, but a tea towel and a meat mallet (or rolling pin) will do the trick, too.

Some versions of the Blue Hawaii call for sweet-and-sour-mix but we prefer the fresh option: sugar syrup and lime juice. Sugar syrup is available at Dan’s, but it’s a cinch to make at home. If you’ve got sugar, water and five minutes, you can quickly make enough sugar syrup to last you for weeks. And here, we use rich sugar syrup, which is simply two parts sugar to one part water – follow the directions in our standard sugar syrup recipe.  

Finally, if you’ve caught the tiki bug, you might like to try these other cocktails, too: the Mai Tai, Singapore Sling, Painkiller or Dark ‘N’ Stormy.