Let’s raise our tankards to this accursed, amazing creation with a satisfyingly seaworthy toast. Bartender Jen Ackrill helms the ship at Hau Tree, the beach bar at the Kaimana hotel in Waikiki, where she oversees … overseas. Jen has a fondness for classic cocktails which she updates with locally sourced inspiration from her new home n Hawaii. Like the best stewards in hospitality, she knows to “give em what they want”, but would love it if what they want is one of her signature creations.

Such as the Kaimana Cocktail, the hotel’s namesake drink. The cocktail is a classic gin sour that features a special type of citrus. Calamansi is a sour lemon-lime fruit indigenous to the Philippines, a hybrid combination of citrus and kumquat. Calamansi look like limes on the outside, but have orange flesh inside. Full of refreshingly tart citrus, the cocktail would be welcome aboard any seventeenth century ship as an antiscorbutic, but I chose the cocktail in particular for the name. Kaimana, which is generally understood as “diamond”, can also be translated as “Power of the Sea”. Here’s to powerful adventures, from sea to shining sea. Cheers!

Kaimana Cocktail by Jen Ackrill

1 ½ oz gin

1 ½ oz calamansi

1 ½ oz maraschino liqueur

¾ oz apricot liqueur

¾ oz lemon

Egg white

barspoon absinthe

Dry shake ingredients to aerate the shake with ice to chill. Strain into a favorite glass with fresh ice. Edible flower garnish recommended.

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