Name: Royal Hawaiian
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 30 ml Pineapple juice; 15 ml Lemon juice; 12.5 ml Orgeat syrup

Royal Hawaiian
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Photographed in an Urban Bar Freddo Coupe Glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 oz	Pineapple juice
¹⁄₂ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
0.42 oz	Monin Almond (Orgeat) Syrup

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of skewered pineapple wedge or dehydrated pineapple slice wheel & Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Orgeat (almond) sugar syrup (2:1) - Nuts

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A fruity almond gin sour that's reminiscent of Mai Tai served straight-up for gin lovers.

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History:

The Royal Hawaiian was created in 1948 at the Moana Hotel in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii and first appears in print in Ted Saucier's 1951 Bottoms Up.

ROYAL HAWAIIAN
Courtesy, Moana Hotel, Honolulu
1 jigger gin
1 jigger pineapple juice
⅓ jigger lemon juice
1 teaspoon orgeat syrup
Ice
Shake well, and serve in a chilled champagne glass.
Ted Saucier, Bottoms Up, 1951

In 1953, the Moana Hotel's bungalows on the opposite side of the road were demolished and after over a year of construction, the Princess Kaiulani Hotel opened on the site, named after Princess Ka'iulani. It appears The Royal Hawaiian cocktail remerged in this new hotel named Princess Kaiulani as its signature cocktail.

Princess Victoria Kawēkiu Kaʻiulani Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Cleghorn (1875-1899) was the only child of Princess Miriam Likelike and the last heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian. After the royal family was overthrown in 1893 she mounted a valiant but unsuccessful fight to preserve the Hawaiian monarchy. After chronic health issues, she died aged just 23 at her home in Hawaii.

Nutrition:

One serving of Royal Hawaiian contains 158 calories

Alcohol content:

1 standard drinks
13.3% alc./vol. (13.3° proof)
13.6 grams of pure alcohol

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More Tiki/tropical cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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G. M. Genovese

28th November 2024 at 13:29

Just made this and didn't realize I already had a lot of tasting notes for it stretching back over 4 years. The gin and pineapple specs I've kept, but I prefer 22.5 ml lemon juice and 7.5 ml orgeat. Gives a sweet enough expression up front but then drops off marginally dry. Depends on how many you want to drink.

John Hinojos

29th August 2023 at 00:31

Outstanding tiki cocktail. Pineapple forward, but the gin mixed to provide a burst of tropical flavours. We do a lot of tiki drinks and have many tiki cocktail books from the Golden Age of tiki. Have never tried this before, but will be having again. Actually we going to have it again with our pork stir fry dinner.

Nathalie O'Flynn

29th September 2023 at 11:29

Am a big Tiki fan myself, havebought many mugs and got Tiki decorations from a bar where we can keep them. Looking forward to trying this easier one.

Chris Dimal

10th August 2023 at 22:17

In spite of gin being the biggest ingredient by quantity, I actually tasted mostly pineapple. Very pleasant, deserves the 4 star rating in my opinion.

Louis Tompkin

3rd August 2023 at 20:37

Hi Simon, i believe the listed ingredients describes orange syrup instead of orgeat. Cheers

Simon Difford

3rd August 2023 at 21:54

Many thanks, Louis. Now corrected.

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