Rum

Bali Hai Special

Name: Bali Hai Special
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Hurricane

The third member of the Bali Hai Restaurant trio, a passion-fruit-and-orange tropical built on three rums.

rum tiki tropical mid-century polynesian-pop shaken passion-fruit pineapple

Ingredients

fresh lime juice (0.5 oz)
fresh orange juice (1 oz)
fresh pineapple juice (1 oz)
passion fruit syrup (0.75 oz)
light Puerto Rican rum (0.75 oz)
gold rum (0.75 oz)
dark Jamaican rum (1 oz)
crushed ice (1 cup)
orange slice (1)
cherry (1)
pineapple frond (1)

The Bali Hai Special is the third member of the Tom Ham family's Shelter Island trio.¹ Where the base Bali Hai (#56) is a rum-pineapple-lime sour and Mr. Bali Hai (#58) is the moai-mug coffee-brandy showcase, the Special pushes harder into Polynesian-Pop territory: passion fruit syrup, orange juice, and a fuller three-rum bill plumb the Scorpion-Bowl-adjacent vein.² The drink rotated on and off the Bali Hai's long-running cocktail menu from the late 1950s through the 1970s and surfaces in venue postcards and bar-back manuals from that era.¹ The garnish, orange wheel, cherry, pineapple frond, is the canonical Polynesian-Pop crown, distinct from the Mr. Bali Hai's mint-and-pineapple presentation.³

Brand recommendations. Best: Smith & Cross or Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black for the dark Jamaican; Plantation 3 Stars or Caña Brava for the light Puerto Rican; Hamilton 86 Demerara for the gold rum; B.G. Reynolds or Liber & Co. passion fruit syrup. Economical: Appleton Estate Signature; Bacardi Superior; Cruzan Aged Light; Finest Call passion fruit syrup.

Instructions

In a shaker combine fresh lime juice, fresh orange juice, fresh pineapple juice, passion fruit syrup, light Puerto Rican rum, gold rum, and dark Jamaican rum.
Add crushed ice and shake until well chilled, about .
Pour unstrained into a hurricane glass or large tiki mug.
Garnish with an orange slice, a cherry, and a pineapple frond.

Sources

Bali Hai Restaurant. https://balihairestaurant.com/ (accessed 2026-05-03; the /drinks/ subpath specifically returned 404 at access time, and the current online menu does not list a "Bali Hai Special" by that name). The drink's existence as a Tom Ham family menu item is documented in Berry's Remixed and in archival venue postcards rather than in the current online menu. ↩
Berry, Beachbum Berry Remixed (2010), Bali Hai entries, discusses the Special as the Scorpion-Bowl-adjacent third drink in the room's program. ↩
Kirsten, The Book of Tiki (2000), Bali Hai venue entry, sources the Polynesian-Pop fruit-and-frond garnish convention as the room's mid-century house style. ↩