Notes: The Hurricane was created by Patrick O’Brien’s Bar during WWII due to a shortage of whiskey or any other liquor. Bar owners needed to buy 50 cases of rum to get 1 case of other liquor (bourbon, rye, scotch, etc.) so they had a huge quantity of rum to get rid of. Somewhat of a variant of a Tiki drink- i.e., rum with lots of fruit juices or chemical equivalents (depending on quality of bar or bartender).

Appearance: Clear red like a cherry cough syrup or hydraulic fluid.

First Impression: Citric acid, tart and candylike smell to it – much like some sweet tart candies.

Taste: Tastes like unset (liquid) jello mix and/or sweet tart candies – a chemical citrus sour mix.

Drinks: Hurricanes of course. If you want to make a real one use the Chuck Taggart (author of the Gumbo Pages) recipe. If you want a real Hurricane in New Orleans itself go to Lafites Blacksmith Shop where they use real and identifiable ingredients for the most part. Of course if you want a large glass of rum with red fluorescent colored ice and some bits of fruit go to Pat O’Brien’s – they probably serve one of the better of those kind of drinks on Bourbon St.- (there are seemingly hundreds of variations on that theme on Bourbon St. so be careful out there).

Final Thoughts: Well, it’s cheap enough at least, and if you use the concentrate or the powdered stuff you save a lot on shipping. While I am against most premixed bottled drink preparations as chemical candied crap – if you must drink such stuff out of cost, lack of real fruit or laziness this is one of the least offensive.

Bottle: Plastic with green labels and neckwrap, screw cap closure. Nice thing about the bottles is they will bounce rather than break.

Website: http://www.patobriens.com/patobriens2/vpasp/default.asp