Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The drinks pro at the Four Seasons Oahu shares his twist on 5 classic cocktails

If you can't make it to the Four Seasons in Oahu, you can at least drink like you're there

By
A working bartender.
Viktor Fj /EyeEm / Getty Images

When it comes to classic cocktail recipes like the Negroni, rules can be broken. Sure, you have to honor the original but without a little added creativity, it’s just another drink.

We reached out to Mike Milligan for some twists on some classics. He’s the bar manager at Four Seasons Oahu at Ko Olina, on the island’s stunning west coast. He not only offered a handful of great recipes — ones patrons adore while sipping at the bar at Noe — but some priceless tips too. In terms of the best resort drinks, the following deserve a spot towards the top of the list.

Recommended Videos

By all means, get out to Hawaii. There’s no better winter experience than sun, surf, and a good cocktail. But if you can’t make it to the Rainbow State you can at least drink like you’re there.

Tramonto cocktail.
Mark Stock / The Manual

Tramonto

An adaptation of a gin sour, this cocktail is a pretty pink thanks to a berry addition. As Milligan points out, you can play around with the shrub. “Feel free to experiment with other fruits and discover combinations including different herbs (basil, thyme, rhubarb etc.),” he says. This one takes advantage of Italicus bergamot liqueur, a real bar cart gem.

Related

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 ounces Malfy Lemon Gin
  • 1/4 ounce Italicus
  • 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • 1 ounce housemade strawberry shrub*
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 dashes Peychauds bitters

*Strawberry Shrub: Clean 8 pounds of fresh strawberries with tops removed. Slice into 1/8-inch pieces and place in stainless or glass bowl, add 2 cups granulated sugar, cover with saran wrap and place in refrigerator for 72 hours. Add water to reach ideal viscosity along with apple cider vinegar to taste, strain solids, bottle and place in refrigerator. Use within 2 weeks.

Method:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake.
  2. Strain into a coupe.
  3. Garnish with orange oil expressed, swath inside and hibiscus gin mist.
Person holding an espresso martini glass placing coffee beans as a garnish.
Kike Salazar N / Unsplash

Espresso Martini

Arguably the breakout drink of 2023, the Espresso Martini continues to dazzle bar-goers. This version utilizes some Hawaiian and inputs, from a macadamia nut liqueur to Kona coffee.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 ounces Tito’s Vodka
  • 3/4 ounce Kahana Macadamia Nut Liquer
  • 3/4 ounce Kahlua
  • 2 ounces fresh Kundalini espresso
  • 3 Kona coffee beans for garnish

Method:

  1. Build in a chilled tin and shake.
  2. Strain into a Martini glass and garnish with coffee beans.
Fumo Nero cocktail.
Mark Stock / The Manual

Fumo Nero

The beauty here lies in the treatment of seemingly standard-issue spirits. Milligan uses smoke from a local Hawaiian tree to impart some added character in the local whiskey. If you can’t get your hands on Kiawe wood, go with another slow-burner like mesquite. There’s a process to get the right amount of smoke, but it’s worth the effort. If you want something simpler, opt for staves or wood chips. Either way, as Mike says, it’s a great way to mimic barrel aging.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces broiled Kiawe wood-infused Paniolo Whiskey*
  • 1/2 ounce Montenegro Amaro
  • 1/2 ounce Tahitian vanilla bean-infused Carpano Antica*
  • 2 dashes black walnut bitters

*Brioled Kiawe wood-infused whiskey: Place wood in broiiler until it’s on fire, remove and place in a stainless steel barrel. Pour whiskey of choice over smoldering wood and steep for 3 weeks. Use a chinois and coffee filter to remove any particles and bottle.

*Tahitian vanilla bean-infused Carpano Antica: Score 1 vanilla bean lengthwise just enough to break outer membrane and steep inside Carpano Antica for 24 hours. Remove and return Carpano Antica to refrigerator. Keep for up to 2 weeks.

Method:

  1. Build in cocktail glass with large cube and stir.
  2. Add 2 dashes of bitters.
Il Calore cocktail.
Mark Stock / The Manual

Il Calore

A riff on an Old Fashioned cocktail, this drink is ideal for a night up on the mountain in front of the fireplace, according to Milligan. “Slightly sweet with a little heat is the jam here,” he says.

Ingredients:

  • 2.5 ounces Whistle Pig 10-year Rye
  • 1/8 tsp Demerara sugar
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 2 dashes mango chutney tincture
  • 2 dashes Calabrian chile tincture

Method:

  1. Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice and shake.
  2. Strain into a cocktail glass, add bitters, and garnish with a small pepper.
Negroni
Nuff / Unsplash

Negroni

“It’s actually Italian for breakfast, lunch, or dinner,” jokes Milligan. He says the versatile drink can change its appearance like a chameleon. “Ours at Noe was created with breakfast in mind hence the 100% Kona coffee infusion,” he says. While Tanqueray works great, the barkeep says his favorite involves Malfy Gin con Limone.

Ingredients:

  • 1 part Tanqueray no. 10
  • 1 part coffee-infused Campari*
  • 1 part Tahitian vanilla bean-infused Carpano Antica (see above)

*Coffee-infused Campari: Combine a 1/2 cup or so of coffee beans with Campari in container and steep for 24 hours. Remove beans.

Method:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a glass with large cube and stir.
  2. Garnish with orange peel.

With the above cocktail recipes, you can bring high-end resort sipping to your own bar. Try them out for size and have fun experimenting with different spirits brands until you find your own sweet spot. Think about seasonal garnishes too, like citrus, rosemary, and more.

If you’re thirsty for more, we have you covered. Check out our favorite winter stouts and the best hot cocktails to warm up with this season.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Stock
Mark Stock
Contributor
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
How to make The Last Word cocktail, a gin classic from another era
Impress your guests and make this circa 1916 drink
Last Word cocktail

Gin often plays a prominent role within classic cocktail culture. Such is the case with The Last Word cocktail, a delightful green concoction enlivened by the aromatic clear spirit. It's a cocktail that has practically lived two lives: one as it was born during the heyday of early 20th-century American bar life and another that started about two decades ago.

How did it come about? Drinks folklore says The Last Word was devised by Frank Fogarty at the Detroit Athletic Club circa 1916. Oddly enough, Fogarty was not a bartender but an award-winning vaudeville comedian. Regardless of his progression, he came up with a damn good cocktail that uses some rather obscure ingredients.

Read more
Your guide to the pescatarian diet for healthier living
If you're considering a new way of eating, this may be the perfect diet for you
Pea puree with fish

Are you thinking of changing your diet? If a healthier you is on the to-do list this year, you might consider the pescatarian diet. At its core, the pescatarian diet eliminates all meat except for fish and seafood. Plenty of research tells us eating red meat increases your chances of heart disease and even death by 3% to 7%. The study even suggests that eating poultry twice a week increases these risks by 4%.

You may have heard of the Blue Zone Diet. If you're not familiar, Blue Zones are areas around the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. The research was conducted by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic fellow and bestselling author. These zones are located in Japan, Italy, Costa Rica, Greece, and California. There are a number of practices you can put in place to follow the Blue Zone Diet if you wish. However, for our purposes, it's simply important to note that the people living the longest and healthiest lives were neither vegans nor meat-eaters. They're pescatarians.
What is the pescatarian diet?

Read more
How to make the perfect carnitas, according to a chef
Check out these tips and tricks to make chef-worthy carnitas
Pork carnitas tacos

If you’ve ever had street tacos, whether from an actual street vendor or an upscale restaurant, you’ve likely had carnitas — whether you knew it or not. Carnitas grew in popularity through Mexican street tacos, but people use it in various dishes, from nachos to chimichangas. Carnitas are most commonly known to be pork, but it can really be any sort of meat cooked in its own fat (confit). The word carnitas in Spanish translates to "little meats."

You can learn how to make carnitas at home -- it isn't difficult. However, it’s not just a matter of throwing a chunk of pork in a pot, and then it turns into delicious carnitas. There are some crucial steps to cooking the perfect batch of carnitas. That’s why we reached out to an expert in Mexican cuisine.

Read more