Harry K. Yee: King of Tropical Cocktails

Ahoy!

I was searching for the original, Blue Hawaii drink recipe. While surfing the web, I stumbled across the following article from 1998 by Rick Carroll: http://www.kevdo.com/maitai/harryyee.html

Apparently, Harry Yee is the creator of fifteen vintage, exotic drinks: Hawaiian Cooler, Guava Lada, Hot Buttered Okolehao, Scratch Me Lani, The Hukilau, Catamaran, Diamond Head, Hawaiian Eye, Naughty Hula, Wahine's Delight and Hawaiian Village Sunset

The article does include the vintage, Blue Hawaii...

In a 12 ounce glass, put ice, then add in this order:

•three ozs. fresh pineapple juice,
•one oz. sweet and sour
•half oz. of blue curacao (preferably Bols).
•3/4 oz. vodka
•3/4 oz. Puerto Rican rum ("It's a better taste," Harry says.)

Stir gently, garnish with pineapple slice and vanda orchid. Serve with aloha.

However, there still remains a million questions... Is Harry Yee still alive? Did he ever document his ingredients? Is the article accurate? Does anybody have the correct recipes for the above drinks. I would love to know more about Harry Yee and his drinks. So, hopefully, somebody has more information to add to the original 1998 article.

As far as I can gather he is still alive though he Retired from bartending in the 1980s.

Beachbum Berry gives recipes for the Hawaiian Eye in both Intoxicating and Remixed, although he credits the creation of that recipe to Tony Ramos at California's China Trader restaurant and not Harry Yee. The series was set at Hawaiian Village Waikiki but most of the interior scenes were shot in Hollywood and the cast were regulars at China Trader.

Jeff also gives a Harry Yee-attributed recipe for the Tropical Itch in Remixed. The Sippin' Safari version is a gin drink rather than bourbon and passionfruit (and not nearly as good) is from the Kon-Tiki restaurants and not a Yee creation.

[ Edited by: Sunny&Rummy 2014-01-25 15:53 ]

Ahoy!

A few days ago, I wrote to Beach Bum Berry and asked him a few questions about Harry Yee. This was Jeff’s response:

“Yes, Rick Carroll's article does indeed print Harry's original Blue Hawaii. I'm afraid all I know about Mr. Yee is taken from Rick's article, so, alas, I can't really speak to your other questions about him.”

So, it’s safe to say the recipe below is authentic.

BLUE HAWAII

In a 12 ounce glass, put ice, then add in this order:

three ozs. fresh pineapple juice,
one oz. sweet and sour
half oz. of blue curacao (preferably Bols).
3/4 oz. vodka
3/4 oz. Puerto Rican rum

Stir gently, garnish with pineapple slice and vanda orchid. Serve with aloha.

I also kept searching on-line for more of Harry Yee’s drinks and recipes and found some more information on YouTube of all places. Apparently Yee began mixing drinks in 1952 and served as Hilton Hawaiian Village's head barman for 30 years. YouTube currently has three videos from the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort where he worked for so long, The videos demonstrate how to make a Blue Hawaii, Tropical Itch and The Hawaiian Eye Cocktail. The Blue Hawaii video’s recipe matches the above recipe and I’m assuming that the other two are correct as well to his original creations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pwEBG1pSLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xZJbW5uBY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ieLwXt4aCA

TROPICAL ITCH

1 oz Bourbon
1 oz 151 Proof Rum
½ oz Orange Curacao
5 oz Passion Fruit Juice (Not Syrup)

Shake the contents in a shaker along with ice. Strain into an ice filled hurricane glass. Then float:

1 oz Jamaican Dark Rum
1 dash Bitters
Garnish with a bamboo back scratcher and a pineapple wedge.

and

THE HAWAIIAN EYE

¼ oz Light Rum
¾ oz Jamaican Dark Rum
¾ oz Dark Rum
3 oz Grapefruit Juice
1 ½ oz Guava Juice
1 dash Bitters
1 dash Simple Syrup

Shake the contents in a shaker along with ice. Strain into an ice filled hurricane glass. Garnish with an orchid and pineapple wedge.

Interesting, the Harry Yee Hawaiian Eye recipe you posted is in fact an entitely different cocktail than the Tony Ramos drink. The Ramos has lime juice, simple syrup, faleenum, and gold and white rum.

The Remixed Tropical Itch recipe attributed to Yee is basically the same as what you posted but with three more ounces of passionfruit juice and the dark Jamaican rum swizzled in with the rest of the ingredients rather than floated on top.

The first time I encountered Yee in print was in the very hit and miss Jennifer Trainer Thompson Great Tiki Drink Book, which was sadly my first introduction to Tiki home bartending before I discovered Grog Log. Unfortunately she gets it weong and attributes the poneapple and Coco Lopez-containing Blue Hawaiian to Yee and not the rum and vodka Blue Hawaii he actually did invent. That book also contains a mutated Tropical Itch recipe (with no attribution) that omits the bourbon and goes with pineapple juice and passionfruit syrup instead of juice. I thought this version was ok until I found the more authentic recipes with bourbon and passionfruit juice.

[ Edited by: Bora Boris 2014-01-25 19:07 ]

Ahoy Sunny&Rummy!

Harry Yee's recipes absolutely NEED to be documented correctly... Here's another example of some beautiful drink recipes being altered and ruined because of not knowing the true ingredients and portions.

This man and his legendary work deserves to be preserved. If anybody has more information on him and his amazing recipes, please help with saving his life's work!!!

I've been posting the information about Harry over at The Tikipedia. Feel free to contribute if you have anything you'd like to add:
http://www.thetikipedia.com/doku/doku.php?id=people:harry_yee

Aloha!

I'm still searching to locate Harry Yee and possibly document his 15 original cocktails. I just called the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikik Beach Resort and got transferred to the Ocean View Terrace where Yee worked for 30 years. I talked with a bartender named Benson. I asked if the hotel had any information on Harry's recipes. I was told that he would ask around and that he would call me back with any information.

I also tried to locate anybody named Harry K. Yee that would be in their mid-nineties. The article that Rick Carroll wrote was in 1998 and it stated that Harry Yee was 78. I'm not having much luck with my search and I'm doubting that he would still be alive at that age.

The article also stated that he retired and went back to school as the principal of Honolulu's Bartender Training Institute. I also tried to find information on the institute and am coming up empty. Does it still exist? has the name of the institute changed?

And finally, I'm trying to locate the author of the article: Rick Carroll. I'm also hitting a dead end with trying to reach him as well.

So, if anybody has any information that could lead to getting a hold of Harry Yee or his original recipes, please chime in. I still believe it's very important to save his legacy and drink recipes so that everybody can still enjoy his wonderful creations.

Cheers!

Well...

I can't believe it but I talked to Harry K. Yee on the phone just now!

He is still alive and resides in Honolulu. He told me that he is almost ninety-six years old. He's extremely hard of hearing and wasn't able to talk long. He was surprised that I was talking about some of his old drink recipes. When I asked about some of his recipes, he said that was from a long time ago. Yee said that he couldn't remember recipes but that he could look to see if he had anything written down. He had said that he has given a lot of stuff away and wasn't sure if he had them any more.

I'm in shock!!!

What a treasure it would be to even find a few of his original recipes... I gave him my phone number and he told me that he would call me back. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Cheers,

~icky

Icky,

That is so very cool! amazing, actually that you were able to track him down AND get to talk to him.

Nice work Icky!

Hope that Harry gets back to you, good luck!

The Cocktail Database has a recipe for the Hawaiian Eye that appears to be the Harry Yee version, and may be a bit more authentic than the one on the YouTube video considering the rums used.

http://www.cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=3182

[ Edited by: arriano 2014-02-03 10:26 ]

Good job!

That is great when you actually find one of the old-timers still around and able to talk about "being there!" Congrats!

Way cool

That is very cool that you got to talk to him.
Honolulu Magazine had an article about Harry Yee. It says that the Tropics Bar and Grill menu at the Hilton Hawaiian Village now has a section honoring Mr. Yee.

http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/Biting-Commentary/November-2013/Bar-report-Tropics-Bar-and-Grill-at-Hilton-Hawaiian-Village/

Tropics Bar and Grill In Hilton Hawaiian Village

How could you pass up the opportunity to drink classic tropical cocktails in the place they were invented?

Legendary bartender Harry Yee, who began mixing drinks at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in the 1950s, created the Blue Hawaii, Tropical Itch and other now-iconic drinks during his 30-year reign. Recently, Tropics introduced a new cocktail menu that pays homage to the famous barman, making Tropics my favorite bar to bring visitors hankering for a tropical drink and Waikiki sunset.

The History
For midcentury fanatics (isn't that everybody these days?) Hilton Hawaiian Village has a magnetic, inimitable attraction. Not only was the Hawaiian Village the birthplace for exotica music (ala Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Alfred Apaka), but thanks to barman Harry Yee, the hotel made a remarkable impact on tropical drinks. It's even been said that Yee was the first to garnish drinks with fresh orchids, backscratchers and tiny parasols.

The Vibe and Menu
Old-timers who recall the Tropics Showroom may be shocked at first by the restaurant's openness, but the atmosphere is definitely for the better. Live, nightly music, attentive service, and the space—open to natural light and tradewinds—help further the sense of place.

It's refreshing to see a modern bar taking its historical connections seriously. The "Tribute to Harry Yee" section, which rolled out this past June, includes nine of Yee's drinks. "So much of Hawaii's cocktail culture is attributed to Harry, and there is so much history at Hilton Hawaiian Village," says Christina Maffei, Director of Restaurants and Bars at the Hilton. "This is my way of paying respect to him."

The rest of Tropics' drink list is a compendium of tropicals, including specialty drinks honoring Hawaii Five-0, and nods to Trader Vic, who famously crafted the Mai Tai.

Tropics also has a full food menu with practically something for everyone. Some of my favorites: the Portuguese bean soup ($8), chicken wings ($12), and the mahimahi fish tacos ($18).

The Drinks
Of the dozen or more visits I made since the new cocktail menu rollout, I found the Harry Yee drinks the best. Sometimes, you can't beat the classics.

Yee allegedly invented the Banana Daiquiri. If he didn't, he at least found a way to make drinking a banana palatable. The secret? A touch of maraschino cherry syrup to add a touch of je ne sais quoi—or as we say in Hawaii, da kine. Locally-produced Old Lahaina Gold Rum and fresh lime juice perfectly complement the banana puree. While I don't usually enjoy bananas outside of pies or breads, the Tropics Banana Daiquiri ($11.50) is certainly an exception.

The Tropical Itch ($14), which comes with its own bamboo back scratcher, sure scratched an itch I didn't know I had—a tiki drink that marries sugarcane rum and whiskey! Tropics' updated version uses a blend of overproof Wray and Nephew, locally-made Old Lahaina dark rum, and Jim Beam bourbon. These three spirits are matched by Angostura bitters and a sweetened passion fruit puree. The bitters and lilikoi make for a natural pair, bringing forward some delicate spices from the dark rum and bourbon. (I've come here so often, that my car is filled with abandoned back scratchers.)

One thing I've always enjoyed about Harry Yee drinks is his use of non-sugarcane spirits. Yee's Diamond Head ($11), made with London dry gin, apricot brandy, fresh lemon and fresh pineapple juices (and served on the rocks) is a less-stuffy version of the 1920s-era Paradise #2—itself a concoction of another Harry bartender of a famous hotel. (Harry Craddock, the American Bar of the Savoy Hotel in London). If rum tropicals aren't for you, look no further than the Diamond Head.

On the Horizon
Look for new cocktail menus soon at Hilton Hawaiian Village's newly-renovated Paradise Lounge, as well as the Rainbow Tower's Bali Steak & Seafood Restaurant that will re-open in December. (The resort is a bit of a construction mess at the moment.) I'm looking forward to seeing how Hilton continues to embrace its midcentury legacy while embarking on new territory and modern concepts.

Ahoy!

Yep… I totally believe that the Hilton Hawaiian Village is ground zero for Yee’s recipes if they can not be obtained from him directly.

I mailed a letter to the address that matched Harry’s phone number on Monday, February 3rd, 2014. Since, he was hard of hearing and a bit confused, I thought that a letter might be more helpful. I included all my contact information and kept the letter pretty simple. I even used a large font size in case his vision was poor too.

I haven’t heard back from Harry since our phone conversation last week. So, hopefully this new letter gets a response. If he does write or call back, I will definitely keep everybody posted!

Also, if any member is from the Honolulu area and would like to go to the Hilton Hawaiin Village and talk with the head barman (Whoever that might be…) and attempt to get Yee's original recipes, I think we could start preserving them so that they don‘t get lost forever:

Hawaiian Eye
Blue Hawaii
Banana Daiquiri
Tropical Itch
Hawaiian Cooler
Guava Lada
Hot Buttered Okolehao
Scratch Me Lani
Hukilau
Catamaran
Diamond Head
Naughty Hula
Wahine’s Delight
Hawaiian Village Sunset (This might be two separate drinks???)

Cheers!

~icky

[ Edited by: ickytiki 2014-02-04 19:57 ]

Ahoy!

I found this recipe searching on-line this morning... Sounds pretty authentic because of the "Okolehao" and a "Back Scratcher" as elements of the drink. Plus, it's "Passion Fruit Juice" and not syrup. It also seems like Hurricane Glasses might be one of Yee's trademarks as well.

SCRATCH ME LANI

2 ounces Okolehao or dark rum
2 dashes Bitters
2 ounces Orange Juice
3 ounces Passion Fruit Juice (Not syrup)
3/4 ounce Grande Marnier

Garnish:
Sprig of fresh mint
Chinese back scratcher

Mix and serve in an ice filled hurricane glass. Decorate with a sprig of fresh mint and a Chinese back scratcher.

[ Edited by: ickytiki 2014-02-05 07:59 ]

Thanks for the recipe. My fave drink at (Chicago-area) Hala Kahiki is the Scratch Me Lani; had no idea it's attributed to Harry.

Great work tracking Mr. Yee down Ickytiki!

what brand of bitters is the Hilton using in those videos?

doesn't look like Angostura. looks almost like (but not the same as) a bottle of Peychaud's.

Ahoy!

So, I was home watching a recorded episode of the Walking Dead with my wife on Friday night when I got a phone call from Harry Yee... It's so strange to get a call from a legend!!!

I had written him a letter a couple of weeks earlier that included a list of his drink creations. In the letter, I had asked if he remembered any of their recipes. This was the list:

Hawaiian Eye
Blue Hawaii
Banana 2/4/14aiquiri
Tropical Itch
Hawaiian Cooler
Guava Lada
Hot Buttered Okolehao
Scratch Me Lani
Hukilau
Catamaran
Diamond Head
Naughty Hula
Wahine’s Delight
Hawaiian Village Sunset

During the conversation, Harry said that he didn't have any thing written down and that he apologized for not remembering how to make his drinks. He said, however, that the "Scratch Me Lani" was not his invention. I told him not to apologize and that I appreciated any help in an attempt to document his Hawaiian drinks.

Since he has no records of his creation's ingredients, I asked if the bartender college where he taught might have saved any of his work. He told me that the school has been closed for a long time and that he had lost track of the man that ran the school.

I also asked him about the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Yee thought that this would be the best place to try and research his original recipes. Harry Yee was very polite and helpful. I thanked him for his phone call and we wrapped up our short conversation.

Once again, any Tiki Central member that might be in the Honolulu area and would like to talk with the head barman would be a great help in preserving Harry's recipes. Here is the Hilton's address and phone number:

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort
2005 Kalia Rd, Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 949-4321

We have Harry's permission to archive his life's work and I would love to see his Tropical Cocktails preserved for the future... Please help!

Cheers,

icky