"I don't know, I made it up, I made it up!"

Much like elementary school students, or Agador in "The Birdcage," if I'm faced with the need to post an entry and no idea what to feature, I just make something up. Happily, the drink I came up with is much more palatable than Agador's "Sweet and Sour Peasant Soup." And it does not feature chreemps shrimps.

Halema'uma'u Cooler

1 1/4 oz London Dry gin
1/4 oz grenadine
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz Maraschino
1/2 oz lime juice
1/8 tsp homemade spice extract
dash of Angostura bitters
tonic water

Combine all except the tonic water with ice in a shaker, shake to mix well, strain into a small tumbler with one solitary ice cube. Top up with tonic water, garnish with a thin bit of orange twist.

I was struggling for a name to put to this one, so I reached back in my mind to a decade ago when I visited Hawai'i. Most of my time was spent on Oahu, but I did visit the Big Island and nose around Volcano National Park. This was before Kilauea had started erupting regularly again, and I was able to hop around the caldera, and look straight down into the Halema'uma'u Crater, home to Pele, goddess of fire in the Hawai'ian tradition. I remembered that they used to have a Volcano House drink (a hot buttered rum) at the overlook before the lodge went dry (likely when it became part of the National Park) and it turns out I lifted a couple elements of that (Maraschino and some spice) without even realizing it. I basically started out planning some variant on a gin and tonic. I threw in a little triple sec, a little lime, a little bitters, and a little grenadine for color, the aforementioned Maraschino and spice, and Aia hoʻi! Turned out to be quite a nice sipping drink, ideal for looking out over the caldera (assuming you smuggle it into the park in a hip flask, or something). Just watch out for the erupting magma. And Agador's seafood chowder, come to think of it.