Smoked cocktails an elevated experience at Honolulu bars

Before Honolulu’s no-smoking ordinance went into effect in 2014, bars and smoke went hand in hand. Almost every watering hole on Oahu offered customers ashtrays, and smokers were allowed to happily puff away on their cigarettes while enjoying a few drinks.

These days the tobacco smoke is gone, but it’s been replaced with a different type of smoke at bars with elevated cocktail programs. Using wood from kiawe to cherry, and even oak staves from used whiskey barrels, more local bartenders have started to follow the trend of adding smoke to their drinks.

Using fire to spark a combustible in the name of added flavor isn’t new. Famed barman Dale DeGroff, who launched a resurgence in classic cocktails at New York’s Rainbow Room in the 1990s, helped catapult the Cosmopolitan into the mainstream with his version — he would twist a sliver of orange peel to release its essential oil, then light it to create a spark that would amaze customers. But there was a method to DeGroff’s madness: Lighting the oil not only creates a visually appealing photo op, but also releases a pleasant aroma that affects the way your drink tastes.

Another New York bartender, Eben Freeman, took things a step further in 2007 when he started using smoke to change the flavor profile of the Coca- Cola syrup he used to make drinks. He was well known in the industry for his experiments with what The New York Times back then called “molecular mixology,” an offshoot of the molecular gastronomy featured on the plates of trendy restaurants. The Times described his version of bourbon and Coke — called the Waylon, served at the defunct restaurant Tailor in SoHo — as tasting like a whiskey and Coke “when consumed beside a smoker full of ribs.”

In Hawaii, longtime mixologist Joey Gottesman won the 2009 World’s Best Mai Tai title with his version, the Smokin’ Mai Tai, which was served at the Royal Hawaiian’s Mai Tai Bar. Gottesman’s recipe called for smoking a mix of pieces of oak staves from used Jack Daniels barrels with kiawe wood, then using a hose attached to a smoking gun to add the smoke directly into his cocktail shaker.

While both Gottesman and the Smokin’ Mai Tai are gone from the Mai Tai Bar, you can still get an amazing smoked version of the drink at Bar Leather Apron in downtown Honolulu.

Justin Park took home the title of World’s Best Mai Tai in 2012 and 2015, and it’s the recipe for his latest win, the E Ho‘o Pau Mai Tai, that is on the menu at BLA. Park uses two types of rum from Guyana — El Dorado 5-year and 12-year — infusing the younger juice with raisins.

He adds coconut water syrup, spiced orgeat syrup, local ohia blossom honey, fresh lime and absinthe; mixes it up; then places the nearly finished drink in a hand-carved tiki presentation box he made for the final step. Kiawe wood smoke is pumped into the box, which both adds flavor and provides an Instagram-worthy experience when the cocktail is presented.

Looking to try a smoked cocktail for yourself? Most bartenders here have gravitated toward recipes using whiskey, as this brown liquor tends to play nicely with different types of smoked wood and is more complementary than vodka, rum or tequila might be. This means looking for a smoked Old-Fashioned or Manhattan cocktail on the menu; both are classics that date back more than 100 years; the only difference in your glass is that an Old-Fashioned uses sugar to sweeten things up while a Manhattan uses sweet vermouth.

But while the recipe may be the same, executing the smoke element can be done in different ways. The Smoked Old-Fashioned ($13) at Harbor Restaurant, for example, incorporates smoke by torching pieces of Jack Daniels oak barrels on a plate, then covering them with a serving glass. At Noi Thai Cuisine in the Royal Hawaiian Center, bartenders make their Smokey Old-Fashioned ($15) by building the drink in a used, clean liquor bottle and adding the smoke inside. After letting it sit for a minute, the bottle is opened and the drink served. Both methods deliver the desired smoke aroma, but I find that Noi Thai’s style is preferable if you want a really strong smoke note.

Prefer a smoked Manhattan? My hands-down favorite is the Mesquite-Smoked Manhattan ($10) at Pint + Jigger. Not only is it the most affordable smoked cocktail in town, but it’s also one of the most balanced you’ll find in Honolulu. The smoke doesn’t overpower the whiskey or vermouth, but instead helps round things out to create a deceptively smooth sipper you’ll want to keep ordering — hangover be damned.

I’m also a fan of The Smoking Gun ($29.95) at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Waikiki. You get a choice of Knob Creek Single Barrel bourbon or High West Rendezvous Rye as the base spirit, to which Alessio vermouth and Angostura bitters are added in a mixing tin, while Kiawe Hawaii smoking chips are used to add flavor via the plate-and-glass method described earlier. The result is another well-balanced cocktail that will smell like smoke in the glass more than 20 minutes after it’s served. And as a bonus, customers get to take home the Wolfgang’s-branded coaster that the cocktail is served on.

Jason Genegabus has written about the local bar and drink scenes since 2001. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @honolulupulse or email jason@staradvertiser.com.