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Hawaii Coconut Rum Cocktail Recipe

Joey Gottesman, an Oahu-based mixologist. Daniel Lane photo.

Joey Gottesman, an Oahu-based mixologist. Daniel Lane photo.

Joey Gottesman, an Oahu-based mixologist. Daniel Lane photo.


This Hawaii coconut rum cocktail recipe features Koloa Coconut Rum, an ingredient that eight chefs will use during the Tasting Kauai Coconut Cook Off. Since Koloa Rum is celebrating their 7th anniversary this month, I’ve also included four fun-rum events that save money and will tickle your palate. Speaking of tickle, here’s the recipe.

Tickle your Fancy

I met Joey Gottesman, an Oahu-based mixologist, last July during a five-course Summer Rum dinner at Naupaka Terrace. Executive Chef, Rodman Machado, a Tasting Kauai Coconut Cook Off competing chef, paired his third course of Kona lobster agnolotti with corn and sweet potato relish and truffle lobster nage, with Joey’s effervescent Koloa Rum cocktail.

Makes one cocktail

  • ¾-ounce Koloa White Rum
  • ¾-ounce Koloa Coconut Rum
  • ½-ounce fresh pressed lime juice
  • ½-ounce white cane sugar syrup*
  • 2 whole fresh shiso leaves
  • 2-ounces gassed Sauvignon Blanc
  • Glass: 12-ounce Collins or highball glass
Kona lobster agnolotti with Tickle your Fancy. Daniel Lane photo

Kona lobster agnolotti with Tickle your Fancy. Daniel Lane photo

Fill glass with ice. Add one shiso leaf to martini shaker and muddle lightly, then add the rest of the contents, fill with ice and shake. (If you want to learn how the pros do it, see the article link below.) Strain up and over ice in glass and top with gassed Sauvignon Blanc. Garnish with a fresh expressed aromatic shiso leaf.

*Available online. Search for “white cane sugar syrup.”

To learn more about hand-crafted cocktails made in Hawaii, read my article “Crafting Aloha Spirit with Fresh Ingredients” previously published in Edible Hawaiian Islands magazine.

As far as our competition goes, add one part Top Chef, one part Chopped, and one part Iron Chef, and you’ve got the Tasting Kauai Coconut Cook Off. The event is the first of its kind, and debuts at this year’s Coconut Festival. Eight of Kauai’s top chefs will use coconut, as well as some of the island’s best local ingredients, to prepare dishes for five judges and you could be one of them!

Tasting Kauai Coconut Cook Off

Saturday, Oct. 1
12:30 to 4 p.m.
Kapaa Beach Park
Free admission

Read last week’s post, to learn more the Tasting Kauai Coconut Cook Off, meet competing chefs, and learn how to win a seat at the judge’s table. Next week, I’ll post about local other ingredients the chefs will have access to. Meanwhile, here are four other ways you can enjoy Koloa Rum.

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Nobody pays us to be featured on our blog, book, app or tours. It’s just our professional opinion! All images copyright Daniel Lane/Pono Photo. For more information, visit www.PonoPhoto.com.