The sticky-sweet mixture of ardour fruit, orange, and guava juice, popularly referred to as POG, could also be an unlikely marker for the peak of cool. However at my Honolulu elementary college within the Eighties, I keep in mind being wildly jealous of the children whose dad and mom packed a frozen 12-ounce can of Hawaiian Solar’s Move-O-Guava of their lunch field. Wrapped in paper towels and tin foil, the juice defrosted by way of the morning in order that by lunchtime, it reached the perfect slushy state—and stored their lunch chilly, an 8-year-old’s model of a win-win.
However POG wasn’t only for college. The enduring juice combo may very well be (and nonetheless is) discovered nearly in all places on the islands—gallon jugs alongside milk within the grocery store, cans in coolers at Little League video games, foil-covered plastic cups handed out on airways, and made into popsicles, powders, and jellies. Hawai‘i has no scarcity of candidates for iconic drinks, from umbrella’d Mai Tais to the rarified Kona espresso. However none, maybe, invokes such a crystalized model of childhood nostalgia as POG.
For POG, it’s the sum of the flavors—normally made in an equal-parts combo—that claims “Hawai‘i” extra so than any particular person part. Not one of the fruits are native to Hawai‘i. Ardour fruit, identified domestically as lilikoi, hails from South America, and yellow ardour fruit is believed to have been launched within the Twenties. Guava likewise comes from Central and South America however thrives within the islands’ temperate local weather, and one selection, strawberry guava, is now acknowledged as one of many largest invasive tree species. Native to Asia, oranges have been launched to the islands in 1792 by Captain George Vancouver.
The drink can hint its origins to the early Seventies, when Haleakala Dairy on the island of Maui launched a mix of the three juices with the snappy advertising identify, POG.
The drink can hint its origins to the early Seventies, when Haleakala Dairy on the island of Maui launched a mix of the three juices with the snappy advertising identify, POG. (It’s now owned by Meadow Gold.) Different outfits, reminiscent of Hawaiian Solar, launched an analogous juice mix beneath different names. Within the early Eighties, the POG model bought a lift when children throughout the state, then the nation, started enjoying a sport utilizing POG milk bottle caps from Haleakala Dairy, with some rising briefly to collectible standing.
For the technology that grew up with POG, the canned or boxed model has grow to be a quick-fix, down-the-memory-hole journey for combined drinks. “Sure! Simply add mezcal or tequila,” responded one buddy after I requested if anybody was nonetheless ingesting the premade juice. One other buddy dwelling overseas at all times requests a bottle of rum and POG to be stocked within the fridge every time she comes house, and quite a lot of really useful including the juice to glowing wine for a tropical Mimosa.
Greater than only a taste, POG has grow to be a token of nostalgia, an envoy of the thought of Hawai‘i. For some, the authenticity of the unique POG is the draw: At Freeway Inn, a Honolulu mainstay that serves Hawaiian meals like kalua pork and lau lau, third-generation proprietor Monica Toguchi Ryan put a POG Mimosa on her brunch menu. “POG is such a basic [nostalgic] taste for these of us who grew up in Hawai‘i,” she says, noting that it’s well-liked for vacationers, too. Her model retains it easy: the unique Meadow Gold juice mix and prosecco, which she says is a pure match with the local-style breakfast menu.
However for others, the combo is extra of a jumping-off level for experimentation. Dave Newman, proprietor of Pint & Jigger in Honolulu, which just lately reopened after a two-year hiatus, has experimented with POG combos previously. “Everybody talked about how they grew up on the stuff—the juice, the fruit, the popsicles,” Newman says about his expertise transferring to O‘ahu in 2006. “All of it sounded so native, I positively needed to see what all of the hype was about.”
[Pint & Jigger’s Dave] Newman discovered that deconstructing the juice into recent particular person parts was simpler to work with than the premade juice combo …
Newman discovered that deconstructing the juice into recent particular person parts was simpler to work with than the premade juice combo, of which he says, “There have been some attention-grabbing tart and tropical notes, however they have been so buried beneath all of the sugar.” Taking part in round with recent juices, nonetheless, he discovered success. In a single, a riff on a Lilikoi Margarita, he used Grand Marnier for a wealthy orange accent and guava ice pellets that slowly melted into the drink. “[It was a] enjoyable drink that reworked because the ice melted, so that you waited to your private POG taste desire, and as soon as it hit that window, nicely, kiss it goodbye,” he says.
In his twist on the Mimosa, he poured cava over a popsicle produced from layering the three juice flavors and discovered that even the order of the layers was necessary—lilikoi would dominate when placed on the underside. Nonetheless, he notes, it was difficult to give you these variations. “I gained’t lie, we tried a bunch of others that didn’t work.”
At Fête Restaurant in Honolulu’s Chinatown, bartender Harry Chin discovered success by reaching again into the canon of tropical drinks. Within the POG Cutter, his spin on Dealer Vic’s Fog Cutter, he finds a further layer of island inspiration by mixing the trio of juices with an O‘ahu-distilled rum. “The principle base is Kō Hana, a very native rum from Hawai‘i produced from fresh-pressed native sugar cane juice much like the agricole fashion,” he says, in regards to the fragrant spirit that provides distinction and texture to the juice-heavy recipe.
The transporting taste combo has additionally discovered a house in canned beers, exhausting seltzers, and cocktails—a kind of shortcut for including tropical aptitude. Breweries each native (Maui Brewing, Hana Koa) and mainland (Stone), have launched POG-flavored beer, but it surely’s the seltzers and cocktails that appear to have the most enduring shelf life for the time being, with varied performs on POG Mimosas and bubbly drinks filling the grocery store cabinets. Paradise Ciders, a neighborhood exhausting cider firm, has made Grasp Free juice—their easy-drinking play on POG—certainly one of their staple flavors, which will be discovered at areas throughout O‘ahu, reminiscent of Lanikai Brewing (which has their very own Endlessly Summer season P.O.G. bitter).
Some have discovered success with checking all of the bins within the seasonal, natural, and farm-to-glass framework. Kaua‘i’s Gradual Island Culinary Syrup makes a concentrated, POG-inspired mix of native fruit juices, together with utilizing pink guava, which was as soon as extensively cultivated however now solely obtainable from a handful of growers and wild foraged from old-growth timber. The syrup works nicely as a base for drinks—a recipe for a Gin Bitter is included on the bottle—but additionally over ice cream or as a fruity accent for grilled meat.
It’s at this intersection—the place acquainted flavors are being reimagined with recent components—that bartenders like Newman see probably the most promise. “Now we have probably the most superb native fruits, and I couldn’t see not utilizing them in a drink like this,” he says.
