kumulipo

2 oz Aged Rum (Don Q Añejo)
2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1/4 oz Crème de Cacao (Tempus Fugit)

Whip shake, pour into a Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with mint (chocolate mint).

Two Thursdays ago, I decided to adapt a recipe that I had created for a brand-centric competition that I could not attend due to my work schedule. I did not have time to test out the recipe before submitting it, so I was game to give it a try. On the fly, I combined two pineapple juice drinks: the Royal Hawaiian and the Pago Pago that I thought would go well with the competition spirit's coconut flavors in a Piña Colada sort of way (here, it is made with regular aged rum). To streamline things, I dropped the Royal Hawaiian's gin in favor of the Pago Pago's rum base but kept its lemon juice over the Pago Pago's lime. For a name, I dubbed this after the 18th century Hawaiian chant Kumulipo that told their creation story.
In the Tiki mug, the Kumulipo greeted the senses with a pineapple and chocolate mint bouquet. Next, a creamy lemon and pineapple sip transitioned into a rum, nutty, chocolate, and pineapple swallow with Green Chartreuse's herbal elements coming through on the finish. Curiously, the first two swallows or so were devoid of chocolate notes, but this gained strength after successive swallows.