Honolulu

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (42 ratings)

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
2 oz Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column)
1 12 oz Pineapple juice
12 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
14 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
14 oz Monin Grenadine Syrup
14 barspoon Xanthan gum (E415)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

  1. Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of pineapple wedge and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

How to make:

  1. DRY BLEND (without ice) first 5 ingredients on slow setting and then gradually add Xanthan gum while continuing to blend.
  2. Add 7oz scoop of crushed ice and BLEND some more.
  3. POUR into chilled glass.

Garnish:

  1. Garnish with pineapple wedge on rim skewered with maraschino cherry.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

Review:

A fruity frozen rum-laced sour. Perfect for a hot afternoon in Honolulu.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe in Victor Bergeron's 1972 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide (revised edition) with his TV logo alongside the recipe denoting that this is one of Trader Vic's own creations, confirmed by his writing, "This is one of the first drinks that we ever originated."

HONOLULU
½ slice pineapple
½ once lemon juice
1 dash rock candy syrup
1 dash grenadine
1½ ounces light Puerto Rican rum

Victor Bergeron, 1972

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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30th July at 18:03
1/4 of a barspoon of Xanthan gum seems too be fair too much when I tried. It turned the drink into a bland wallpaper paste. I’ll try again another time with a pinch. First drink I’ve had to bin for a long time!
Simon Sedgley’s Avatar Simon Sedgley
13th July at 16:27
Very pleasant. To make it even more fun we added 5ml cream of coconut.
28th May at 04:24
Used Flor de Cana 4, fresh pineapple juice, 0.5 oz of homemade grenadine to replace the rich simple. Simple and delicious. Large pineapple flavour with body behind it. Would up the rum later on or try an aged version to get that extra flavour.
Joseph Murray’s Avatar Joseph Murray
13th June 2023 at 21:24
How much crushed ice is recommended?
Chris Dimal’s Avatar Chris Dimal
21st February 2023 at 12:11
It's exactly what the review says. My only issue is that the drink has turned into a foam on top and a very liquid bottom. Any insight?
Simon Sedgley’s Avatar Simon Sedgley
13th July at 16:29
This happened to us once. We suspect it was because we skimped on the xanthan gum.