Jungle Bird Cocktail

The Jungle Bird cocktail is a drink built with dark rum, Campari, lime juice, pineapple juice, and demerara sugar syrup!

Jungle Bird Cocktail Info

The origin of the Jungle Bird cocktail date back to the 1970s. It was first served as a welcome drink at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton in 1973. Jeffrey Ong created the cocktail in the Aviary Bar of the hotel. The drink's name is derived from the fact that the Jungle Bird was served in a porcelain bird-shaped container.

The Jungle Bird's recipe-book debut was in 1989 when it appeared in John J. Poister's "The New American Bartender's Guide." Later, it showed up in "Intoxica," which was first published in 2002. The drink was popular in Malaysia, and the recipe has been preserved for posterity. However, it took several decades for the drink to gain popularity outside of its homeland. Today, however, the Jungle Bird is a staple on Tiki bar menus and cocktail bar menus. It has even helped name a few bars in major cities like New York.

The original recipe for the Jungle Bird used generic dark rum, later updated with Jamaican rum. Many bartenders prefer blackstrap rum because of its richness. The cocktail has also been updated with smaller amounts of pineapple juice, reducing it from four ounces to a more manageable quantity.

After settling on your rum, it's time to get your juices. It would help if you always used fresh lime juice. Fresh pineapple juice will keep the refreshing theme going if you have a juicer or muddler. Campari, a good pairing for the rum and fruits, adds a rich vein in the cocktail of herbal bitterness. The sugar is all that remains. This recipe calls to make demerara syrup. It is an equal-part mixture of demerara sugar, and water. This syrup is used to add depth to many Tiki-style drinks.

Mix everything, and you will be transported back to 1970s Malaysia.