What’s Nui with you?

Last week I did a Donn Beach classic,and this week I decided to keep rollin’ with tha Donn by making another Beachcomber drink,the Nui Nui. Created in Hollywood around 1937,it was originally named the Pupule. But Donn later changed the name(after playing with the proportions) in 1953 when it was added to the menu of the Mandalay Bar in The Colonel’s Plantation Beefsteak and Coffee House at the International Marketplace in Waikiki,HI. This was an interesting place where you picked your steak out from a butcher’s case and they would cook it and bring it to your table. Fun fact,the Elvis movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style had recreated the restaurant for a dining scene,and an actual former Donn employee,Lean Lontoc,was the waiter serving Elvis his steak. Pupule is Hawaiian for “to make insane or act crazy” and nui means “big/large/greatest”,so the second name is probably better as this isn’t a strong drink,but it is tasty. Enjoy!

Mix #212 Nui Nui

2oz dark rum
1/2oz lime juice
1/2oz orange juice
1/4oz cinnamon syrup
1/4oz Donn’s Spices #2*
1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass with fresh ice. Can also be blended.

*1:1 vanilla syrup and allspice dram

Depending on who you ask,this drink can be shaken or blended. I decided to shake it. It’s a spicy drink with lots of cinnamon burn and just a touch of vanilla on the end. Pretty good,but next time I think I’ll double the Spices #2 just to counteract the cinnamon. The rum used can also be Jamaican dark or Virgin Islands amber,depending on the source. I used Appleton 12yr and it worked quite well. Feel free to use the rum,proportions,and mixing method you prefer to tune this the way you like it.

Remember folks,if you can’t get to paradise,the Donn will bring it to you. Aloha.