If there’s one thing we discovered on the island, it’s that tequila is always popular. We stumbled onto one of our favorite brands, Sauza, at the local Safeway Supermarket in Kapaa. To our delight, it was the same price we pay when we find it featured on sale back home. “How is that possible,” you ask, “when gasoline on the mainland can be under two dollars a gallon and on the island a real deal is when it’s down to $3.85 a gallon?” We wondered the same thing, but decided to go with the laid-back island perspective of “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Especially if it means the store can change their mind and suddenly make a price adjustment.

Since you’re probably still curious about the “Agony or Ecstasy” cocktail, let me tell you IT IS INCREDIBLE! Gabrielle, bartender at the oceanside Oasis On the Beach, has truly made it an art form. She gently crushes a wedge of lemon and lime together before adding habanero tequila, elderflower liqueur, a splash of grapefruit juice, topped off with ginger beer. All this is shaken, not stirred. The rim of an old-fashioned cocktail glass is dipped in a mixture of smokey-chile Alaea salt crystals. The garnish is an artist’s creation of chilled grapefruit peel splashed with sriracha sauce. Served over ice. Stir. Now sip it. The slow burn is followed by the smooth silkiness of tequila culminated by a crowning finish: a kick of ginger.