Royal Hawaiian Cocktail

Name: Royal Hawaiian Cocktail
Prep time: 1 min
Total time: 1 min
Cuisine: Hawaiian
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz Empress 1908 Gin; 1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice; 1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice; 1/2 oz orgeat syrup; pineapple wedge (optional garnish)

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A cocktail can't get much more tropical than this! The Royal Hawaiian cocktail, which hails from Waikiki Beach, combines pineapple, fresh citrus, and refreshing gin into one beautiful and refreshing drink. This cocktail is perfect for summer sipping, or anytime you want to mentally transport yourself to a tropical destination.

A purple and yellow Royal Hawaiian cocktail on a woven mat.

To achieve this colourful purple to yellow gradient, I made this version created by Empress 1908 gin - a beautiful floral and juniper-based gin that is naturally coloured with butterfly pea flowers, giving it a gorgeous purple hue.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Equipment
📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Empress 1908 Gin
Unsweetened pineapple juice
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Orgeat syrup
Pineapple wedge, for optional garnish

See the recipe card below for quantities.

Instructions

Fill a collins glass with crushed ice. You're going to want to use crushed ice to help you get the beautiful colour gradient effect. Then add pineapple juice, freshly squeezed lemon juice, orgeat syrup, and ice into a cocktail shaker. Shake well for a good 20 seconds. Strain the cocktail into the ice-filled glass.

Gently pour Empress 1908 gin on top. The crushed ice will soften and disperse the pour. This allows the gin to settle on top of the yellow portion of the cocktail. Finally, serve garnished with a wedge of pineapple.

Substitutions

Orgeat is a lovely drink sweetener made of almond extract, sugar, and either orange blossom water or rose water. The result is a pleasant, nutty and floral non-alcoholic addition to your cocktail. Orgeat can be substituted with an amaretto. Amaretto is a sweet and nutty, Italian alcoholic beverage that is made from real almonds (or apricot pits, depending on the quality). Keep in mind that it will raise the alcohol content of your cocktail, and it's missing the floral notes. The best substitute would be two parts amaretto and one part flower water (rose or orange blossom).

Royal Hawaiian cocktail garnished with flowers and a wedge of pineapple.

Where did the Royal Hawaiian cocktail originate?

This wonderful cocktail started out with a different name - the Princess Kaiulani - when it originated at the luxurious Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii in the 1920s. Due to its popularity, it was renamed the Royal Hawaiian when it was crowned the hotel's signature drink around 1950. This version that uses Empress 1908 Gin for a beautiful colour effect is a more modern spin on the classic, that typically sees uncoloured gin mixed throughout.

Equipment

Everyone who enjoys making cocktails should have a great cocktail bar set. I really like this one. It comes with so many great tools, including a muddler and various types of strainers. I purchased one for myself then ended up giving away a few as gifts.

cocktail bar set

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This drink is served in a collins glass. You need this style of tall and skinny glass to really feature the beautiful colour gradients properly.

collins glass

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If you love this cocktail, I know of another one that you'll love just as much. Check out the east 8 hold up. You make this delicious, tropical cocktail with real, fresh pineapple and passionfruit syrup.

A couple east 8 hold up cocktails garnished with purple flowers.

📖 Recipe

Royal Hawaiian Cocktail

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 17 reviews

Author: Asha
Prep Time: 1 minute
Total Time: 1 minute
Yield: 1 cocktail 1x
Category: Cocktails
Cuisine: Hawaiian

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Description

This refreshing, tropical cocktail is deliciously flavoured with a floral and juniper gin sinking into a pineapple and citrus base. Looking like a beautiful sunset the whole time, the Royal Hawaiian might be your new favourite.

Ingredients

Scale

1 ½ oz Empress 1908 Gin

1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice

½ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ oz orgeat syrup

pineapple wedge (optional garnish)

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Instructions

Add pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orgeat into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds, then strain into a crushed ice filled collins glass.

Gently pour gin on top so that it will float rather than mix in. Garnish and serve.