The Tropical Itch, a Classic Whiskey Cocktail, Is Back

When it comes to the tropical canon, rum is by far the preeminent spirit. Though it’s not the only spirit used in such drinks, the bar team at Tern Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, which leans on tropical classics, is always on the hunt for recipes that show “a different spirit profile,” according to Jocelyn Morin, the bar’s co-owner. The fruit of one such hunt was the Tropical Itch.

Along with recipes like the Port Light, the Tropical Itch belongs to a small group of whiskey-based classics from the tropical canon that has survived into the 21st century. The original combined bourbon, two kinds of rum, passion fruit, Curaçao and Angostura bitters, and it was garnished with a back scratcher, among more traditional flourishes. (There is also a contemporaneous drink called the Tropical Itch, created by Joe Scialom at the Caribe Hilton, which is similar in style and kooky garnish but features a vodka-and-rum base.)

The Tropical Itch was created in the late 1950s by Harry Yee, who led the bar program at the Hawaiian Village Hotel on Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach for decades. He also invented the Blue Hawaii and is credited with popularizing paper parasols and Vanda orchids as garnishes. 

Morin describes the Tropical Itch as “a convergence” of 20th-century genres, tiki and tropical resort bars, and the recipe really does merge the two: Passion fruit is foundational in Donn Beach’s aesthetic, bourbon made its way in through Trader Vic, and the place of origin and goofy garnish speak to the drink’s resort-bar style. But even more so, the Tropical Itch doesn’t just straddle the two genres—it shows the moment when California-born tiki began to sell its imagined Polynesian aesthetic back to its place of (supposed) origin. Donn Beach started doing business in Honolulu in the ’40s and Trader Vic took over the cocktail program at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (just down the beach from the Hawaiian Village) in 1952.

Morin and co-owner Ryan Shanley sought to create a recipe for the Tropical Itch that was less sweet and more spirit-forward; to that end, they began with a big swap: rye in place of bourbon. The move allowed them to pull back on the natural sweetness of the base and to lean in the direction of baking spices over vanilla. They use Rittenhouse, but say that the brand is less important than the proof; a bonded expression works best to hold its own next to the rums. Staying true to Yee’s original Tropical Itch, the rums in question are Jamaican (specifically Blackwell or Hamilton Pot Still Black) and 151 Demerara (they use Lemon Hart 151, from Guyana). 

The star of the Tropical Itch has always been passion fruit, and, according to Jeff Berry, Yee’s version contained no other fruit juices. Tern Club’s recipe, however, calls on both pineapple and lemon to connect the dots within the glass: “Pineapple, especially when it’s not in a crazy huge volume,” says Morin, “doesn’t necessarily have to impart a ton of flavor, but it’s a really good bridge between the high acid notes and the smoother baking spice and vanilla notes of a drink.”

In another shift from the 1950s recipe, Tern Club ditched the Curaçao in favor of allspice dram, which does double duty in the drink, also replacing the Angostura from the original. “The allspice plays nicely with the passion fruit and really rounds out the drink,” says Shanley. The rye in the base also subtly channels the spices in the Caribbean liqueur. Finally, for texture and balance, Morin and Shanley’s spec employs half an ounce of rich Demerara syrup.

At Tern Club, a pineapple wedge and banana leaf join the expected back scratcher garnish in the drink’s traditional vessel, a Hurricane glass. And though guests are thoroughly pleased with the actual drink, it’s the wild garnish that gets their attention right off the bat. “Some people might not even read the menu,” says Morin, “and they say, ‘I don’t know what that is, but I want that!’”