by Louanne Cox

Created on: July 07, 2007

"Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learning how, come on and safari with me" I can't think of surfing without thinking of Hawaii and the fantastic surfing they have & really who can think of Hawaii without thinking of the Blue Hawaiian?

Harry Yee really helped to create the vision we all have of yummy cocktails with umbrella's to complete any Hawaiian holiday. In 1957 while working at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort he was asked to make a cocktail using blue curacao and he came up with the Blue Hawaiian.

The original recipe was oz light rum, oz vodka, oz blue curacao, 3oz pineapple juice & 1oz sweet & sour mix. Mix all the ingredients together and serve in a tall glass with a slice of pineapple, a cherry and a cocktail umbrella. By the way, a little piece of trivia, the cocktail umbrella was first used by Donn Beach of Don the Beachcomber' fame and became part of the tiki culture of Hawaii.

The Blue Hawaiian is a perfect sunny holiday drink, and if you over indulge there's nothing better for a hangover as the fresh Hawaiian sea breeze. The drink was named after the song Blue Hawaii that was composed for the Bing Crosbie movie Waikiki Wedding. Yee went on to invent several other cocktails such as Hawaiian Cooler, Naughty Hula & Wahine's Delight, but the Blue Hawaiian is the classic that he will always be remembered for.

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