When things start to get bumping on the Dark Isles your sure to see someone shaking their groove thing. The Hula Ghouls are lovely and very generous. They’d happily give you a hand, heck the whole arm, they have trouble keeping them connected anyway. Ah yes it’s Halloween here on the Dark Isles, the time when we celebrate the elements of horror and danger in Tiki. So join us and our favorite monsters and sip the spooky away.

This week’s drink is something we actually started to work on last year after we finished the Aitu Eye. We’d just gotten our hands on some fine Old New Orleans Crystal and 3 year Amber rums and wanted to play. I really love these rums even though they are impossible to get in Alabama, luckily I had a friend who was New Orleans bound who agreed to pick me up some rum. We combined the Amber rum with our homemade orgeat and some fresh orange juice. To heighten the note of the orange flower water we also added Angostura Orange bitters for it’s tart green orange bitterness. This drink is on the sweeter side, but the lime juice keeps it balanced and refreshing. If you don’t have the time to make orgeat at home use a quality brand, avoid names like Torani and Monin. If you’d like to save money and make your own vanilla syrup follow the link to the Aitu Eye where we detail how we make ours.

Hula Ghoul

2 oz Old New Orleans Amber Rum

1 oz Lime Juice

¼ oz Orange Juice

¾ oz Vanilla Syrup

¼ oz Home Made Orgeat

1 Dash Orange bitters

Shake together and strain into a coupe, garnish with a cherry speared to a lime wedge as pictured.

This drink has a very fragrant perfumed nose of vanilla, honey, orange flower water, and subtle oak spice. Fresh limes provide a gentle frame for the flavors of this drink and give it structure. Sweet yet toasty rum pops up to the forefront followed by sweet tantalizing fresh vanilla and orgeat. The finish is lingering and lightly oaky with lingering sweet and spicy notes.

She may be coming to pieces, but our Hula Ghoul is in the Halloween spirit. How about all of you? Next week we’ll have something very fun to play with and maybe a very special guest. Let us know in the comments what your favorite Halloween monster is. Till next time…

“You get Hammered America” – JFL