nui nui

2 oz Amber Virgin Island Rum (Plantation Dark)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/4 oz Donn's Spices #2 (1/8 oz each vanilla syrup and allspice dram)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Blend 5 seconds with 4 oz crushed ice (shake with ice and strain over crushed ice). Garnish with a long orange twist.

After realizing while drinking the Vendetta that I had not written about a Nui Nui, I decided to remedy that the next night. The Nui Nui had influenced me to create the Kuula Hina at Russell House Tavern two years ago and that later morphed into the Mytoi Gardens menu item a few months later. Namely, it was the Donn's Spices #2, an elegant combination of vanilla and allspice, and here in the Nui Nui, it was also supplemented by cinnamon. According to Beachbum Berry, the Nui Nui was Don the Beachcomber's creation back in the mid-1930s in Hollywood as the Pupule; later, it took on the identity of the Nui Nui at the Mandalay Bar of the Colonel's Plantation Beef Steak House circa 1953.
The Nui Nui gave forth an orange aroma from the twist garnish, and the orange notes continued on into the sip along with lime and the rum's caramel. Finally, the swallow offered rum accented by cinnamon, allspice, and vanilla.