After World War II, demand for scarce supplies of bourbon and Scotch was high but not so much for rum, which was plentiful. To address this quandary of supply and demand, the restaurant/bar, Pat O’Briens in New Orleans created a drink loaded with rum to both bump up the popularity of the liquor and use up the excess. Along with a generous pour of rum, it included lemon juice and a local syrup called Fassionola which contained Hibiscus and strawberries. A later version changed that to passion fruit juice. They called it a Hurricane, named after the distinct glass it was served in and it became a hit that was forever associated with New Orleans.
Later versions of the drink were made with a mass-produced mix that was VERY sweet. On a trip to New Orleans in my twenties, I tried one and found it to be like a red punch from a sixth grade dance that had been seriously spiked with rum. The original concept is good, though so I brought it back to its first iteration and gave it a Runamok twist.
I kept the rum but brought it down to ‘easy sipping’ range, rather than ‘lift your shirt at mardi gras’ level. Feel free to add more if you want to aid in reducing the supply of rum in your pantry. The passion fruit is included as is some fresh citrus. But the important upgrade is using Runamok Grenadine which has a tangy, fruitiness to it in contrast to the ultra-sweet stuff that most people are accustomed to. It is not the original, but it is lengths better than the rum-and-red slushies given to tourists.
