Happy false Fall! At least up in my neck of the woods it is. We’re looking at an 80 degree couple of days the weekend before Halloween because climate change obviously isn’t real.

Anyway, might as well enjoy the second round of summer with a tropical drink right? Exactly. Plus the Sharkbait clan is off to Hawaii in a couple weeks to visit some friends. so I wanted to jumpstart the vacation (at least mentally). I’ve been sitting on the Royal Hawaiian for a bit and thought it was appropriate to break it out this week, given the above circumstances and all.One reason I held off making this for so long was my lack of orgeat. I really should make some since it’s apparently easy according to my bartender friend. He was also the one to tell me to just go ahead and sub in falernum. He compared it to using simple syrup instead of a honey syrup in a different drink. It’s not true to the recipe, but it’s not gonna suck. With that confidence behind me, I went for it:

Royal Hawaiian

 1.5 oz. Gin
.75 oz. Orgeat (Falernum)
1 oz. Pineapple Juice
.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice 

Combine all the ingredients into your cocktail shaker. Shake with ice and double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with pineapple wedge and/or spears

The aromas I get up front here are some gin highlights, along with some lemon that sneaks in there too. I also get from the falernum, which adds a nice touch to the aroma. I wonder how the original orgeat would contribute to the scents here.

The initial sip is very refreshing. This drink really hits different on an 80 degree October day. I get a decent amount of juniper notes from the gin, but considerably less boozy bite from it, which is oddly pleasant, given how light this drink feels and tastes. On top of that, the lemon juice comes across more aggressively than I would have thought, making this a touch on the sour side, as the lemon kind of lingers on the palate after the sip. What I think is the real star here is the falernum. While not true to the recipe, it works here as a worthy replacement for the orgeat that I’m lacking. Falernum usually works really well in cooler/tiki drinks and being that this one is called the Royal Hawaiian after all, it has a place here. The subtle lime and ginger flavors the falernum brings to the table play really nicely with the pineapple and gin flavors. Though I do want to try with the orgeat syrup though, just to see the comparison between the two.

The finish is a nice combination of the sour lemon with some sweet pineapple in there as well. As I mentioned above, the lemon sticks to the palate for a little bit after the sip, so going back in immediately builds on that, so maybe space them out a little bit to make sure you don’t get inundated with lemon flavors. Unless that’s your thing. If so then go to town friend. For me, I think spacing them out to let the citrus sour abate a little bit is the move here.

I liked this a lot. It’s a nice prep drink to the vacation I’m about to go on, where I plan on drinking tiki drinks like it’s my job for the week I’m out there. I definitely need to procure (or make) some orgeat syrup to see how this is supposed to turn out.