Are you a Discerning Drinker?
Join thousands of like-minded professionals and cocktail enthusiasts, receive our weekly newsletters and see pages produced by our community for fellow Discerning Drinkers.
Honolulu Cocktail No.2
-
Honolulu Cocktail No.2
Serve in a Nick & Nora glass
| 2⁄3 oz | Hayman's London Dry Gin |
| 1⁄2 oz | Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur |
| 1⁄2 oz | Luxardo Maraschino liqueur |
| 1⁄3 oz | Chilled water omit if using wet ice |
| 1 dash | Orange Bitters by Angostura optional |
How to make:
- Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
- Prepare garnish of skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
- STIR all ingredients with ice.
- FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
- Garnish with skewered cherry.
Strength & taste guide:
No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Review:
Originally made with equal parts gin, Bénédictine and maraschino but better balanced with a tad more gin. (If making with equal parts this is a slightly sweet old-school after-dinner cocktail is best served on-the-rocks.)
Variant:
History:
The Honolulu appears in Hugo R Ensslin's 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks but is better known and gained its "No.2" moniker when repeated by Harry Craddock in his 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.
HONOLULU COCKTAIL.
Hugo R. Ensslin, 1917
1/3 Gin
1/3 Maraschino
1/3 Benedictine.
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice strain and serve.
Adapted from a recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.
HONOLULU COCKTAIL. (No. 1.)
Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930
1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
1 Dash Orange Juice.
1 Dash Pineapple Juice.
1 Dash Lemon Juice.
1 Glass Dry Gin.
A little Powdered Sugar.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
HONOLULU COCKTAIL. (No. 2.)
⅓ Maraschino.
⅓ Gin.
⅓ Bénédictine.
A little Powdered Sugar.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Nutrition:
One serving of Honolulu Cocktail No.2 contains 129 calories
Alcohol content:
- 1.1 standard drinks
- 24.97% alc./vol. (24.97° proof)
- 15.1 grams of pure alcohol
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.
Previous cocktail
Hearst Martini
Next cocktail
Jewel
Bitters
Bitters are alcoholic beverages prepared with herbs, spices, roots, fruits and peels infused in alcohol or glycerin. Popular ingredients include gentian...
Some cocktails benefit from added water
The size, and shape of the ice you use when mixing cocktails will affect the amount of dilution added when mixing. Large cubes in a cocktail shaker have...
20 best Summer cocktails
When it comes to cocktails, summer screams "Sex on the Beach", or at least fruit-forward rather than spirit-forward, more refreshing cocktails, but not...
20 best/most rated Martinis
There are 1,000s of cocktails with "Martini" in their name on Difford's Guide, and the majority are not actually true Martinis, at least going by the Oxford...
20 best Amaretto cocktails
The bittersweet almond and vanilla flavour of amaretto mixes brilliantly with dark spirits – particularly whiskey but this versatile liqueur also mixes...
Join the discussion
Showing 4 comments for Honolulu Cocktail No.2.
See discussion in the Forum
Rule 4: Just because you have the ingredients, doesn’t mean you should make it.
Ensslin refers to 'gin' here rather than 'dry gin' - I always wonder if that means Old Tom is meant, since in other recipes he does specify 'dry gin'. Old Tom might make more sense, leaning fully into the sweet sipper vibe.
As is, with London Dry, I find this fairly nasty...
Interestingly, it was hugely improved with some Fees orange bitters, become really quite tasty.