The Best Hurricane Mix, Just in Time for Mardi Gras

The best Hurricane mix is sweet, tart, and tastes like a drunken weekend in one of the best cities on earth when you mix it with rum.

To be honest, it’s been a long time since I’ve had an authentic New Orleans Hurricane. I went to Mardi Gras with friends when I was a freshman in college in 2001 and came home with lots of beads, a nasty case of mono, and plenty of wonderful memories. According to New Orleans’ tourism board, the Hurricane dates to World War II, when whiskey was in short supply but a surplus of rum was coming in from the Caribbean. The owners and bar staff at local watering hole Pat O’Brien’s concocted a cocktail made with rum, passion fruit, and lemon juice, served it in a glass shaped like a hurricane lamp, and the rest is history.

If you’re making Hurricanes at home, you’re probably using a mix, and if you’ve shopped for a Hurricane mix, you’ve probably noticed that two purveyors dominate the market: Pat O’Brien’s (naturally) and Franco’s. Franco’s isn’t a New Orleans institution like Pat O’Brien’s is—the company is based in Florida—but it claims to have formulated the first powdered Hurricane mix in the late ‘70s.

But which Hurricane mix is the best Hurricane mix? I mixed up batches of both with dark rum (Plantation Original Dark, to be precise) and flashed my boobs to my cat as I drank to relive my misspent youth. (Also note that both called for crushed ice, but I don’t live in a tiki bar, so they got cubes!)

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Runner-Up

Franco’s Hurricane Mix

Amazon

Okay, Hurricane mix, as a whole, is a lot. It’s very, very sweet. It’s like if you made a packet of Kool-Aid but added half as much water as you’re supposed to. Rum is also extremely sweet (you know, because it’s made from sugar cane). But if you like Hurricanes, you get it, so I’ll shut up. This powdered mix has all that fruity, tart flavor you expect, and the powder dissolves really well in cold water, which is nice. Franco’s tastes like a cheap Mai Tai to me, in a pleasant way—I swear I even get a little bit of orgeat flavor from it. To be totally honest, I think these Hurricane mixes taste pretty similar, but Pat O’Brien’s gets the edge for being a ready-to-use liquid rather than a powder.

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane Mix

Amazon

I guess it’s not a huge surprise that Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane Mix is the best Hurricane mix. It’s saccharine, it’s red, it tastes like something you’ll regret drinking tomorrow, but in a fun way. I couldn’t necessarily pinpoint the flavor of passion fruit in either mix, but I’m not an expert either. If you’re celebrating Mardi Gras, order a couple of bottles of the best Hurricane mix out there: Pat O’Brien’s.

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

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About the Author

Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks. Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction. Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home. Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.