"The Hurricane is the quintessential drink of New Orleans," says Brian Gerrard, the beverage manager at Smack Shack in Minneapolis.  At least, it is now.  Originally, the sweet and fruity recipe was developed to help get rid of low-quality booze at Bourbon Street bars.

"There's a little bar called Pat O'Brien's, and a lot of bars down there, they were forced to purchase a lot of really cheap rum in order to get one case of good whiskey. And so he found a way to sell it to the sailors by mixing a bunch of fruit juice in with it, kind of masking the taste of this cheap rum..."

The drink gets its name from the lamp-shaped glass it's served in -- something O'Brien also got on the cheap -- and typically contains passion fruit juice, which is hard to come by in northern climes.

The Smack Shack recipe instead calls for an equal mix of pineapple, and cranberry juices, as well as some peach schnapps to round out the flavors.  The result is a smooth impression of the southern cocktail that's easy to make year-round in Minnesota.

Recipe:

• 2 oz white rum
• 1 oz dark rum
• 2 oz peach schnapps
• Juice from ½ lime (about ½ oz)
• 4 oz Hurricane mix*
• Grenadine to garnish

* To make Hurricane mix, combine equal parts pineapple, orange, and cranberry juice.

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin over ice.  Shake vigorously to combine, then strain into a Hurricane glass over fresh ice. Garnish with a float of grenadine.

Smack Shack in Minneapolis's North Loop is the original brick-and-mortar location of the lobster-centric restaurant.  You can also visit their Chicago location, as well as a new location coming soon to MSP Airport.

(612) 259-7288

www.smack-shack.com