Rum

Hala Kahiki

Name: Hala Kahiki
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Collins

Donn-era pineapple-driven rum cooler whose Hawaiian name (literally pineapple) was later borrowed by the Hala Kahiki Lounge in River Grove, Illinois.

rum tiki mid-century shaken jamaican pineapple tropical

Ingredients

fresh lime juice (0.5 oz)
fresh orange juice (0.5 oz)
fresh pineapple juice (1 oz)
sugar syrup (0.5 oz)
light Puerto Rican rum (1.5 oz)
dark Jamaican rum (1 oz)
crushed ice (1 cup)
pineapple wedge (1)
mint sprig (1)

Hala Kahiki is Hawaiian for "pineapple," and at least two distinct drinks share the name: a Donn Beach original purportedly recovered by Berry from the Don the Beachcomber files,¹ and a separate house drink at the Hala Kahiki Lounge in River Grove, Illinois (a still-operating 1964 tiki bar).² No carry-over to the Mai-Kai menu in Fort Lauderdale is supported by available sources; the recent Mai-Kai Hala Kahiki is a Donella Vitale / Tiki Farm mug design rather than a Donn-era recipe carry-over. The Berry reconstruction's specific attribution chain (Tony Ramos / Hank Riddle notebooks) is also not directly verifiable in the available sources. This entry documents what is presented in tiki literature as the Donn-era version: a straightforward Don the Beachcomber pineapple cooler with light rum for body, a small accent of dark Jamaican for funk, lime to dry the pineapple out, and a touch of orange to round.³

Brand recommendations. Best: Bacardi Heritage or Caña Brava for the light rum; Smith & Cross or Hamilton Pot Still Black for the Jamaican; fresh pineapple juice (load-bearing, canned tastes flat here). Economical: Bacardi Superior; Coruba or Myers's; Dole pineapple juice if fresh is unavailable.

Instructions

In a shaker combine fresh lime juice, fresh orange juice, fresh pineapple juice, sugar syrup, light Puerto Rican rum, and dark Jamaican rum.
Add crushed ice and shake until chilled, about .
Pour unstrained into a collins glass.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a mint sprig.

Sources

Berry, Sippin' Safari (2017 ed.), Don the Beachcomber file-recipe chapters, Berry's reconstruction of the Hala Kahiki from the Tony Ramos and Hank Riddle notebook lineages, including the later carry-over to the Mai-Kai menu. ↩
Hala Kahiki Lounge (River Grove, IL) historical context, supporting documentation for the 1964 tiki bar and its separate house drink sharing the name; cited here only to disambiguate from the Donn-era version this entry documents. ↩
Beachbum Berry, https://beachbumberry.com/publication-sippin-safari.html (accessed 2026-05-03), publication source; cross-referenced with The Atomic Grog's Mai-Kai menu coverage at https://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/ for the Mai-Kai carry-over. ↩