A Jungle Bird Cocktail on a table with garnish.

Jungle Bird Cocktail

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Originating in Malaysia, the Jungle Bird Cocktail is a fun tropical Rum cocktail. Like a lot of Rum cocktails, there's plenty of fruit in this one, and plenty of booze! So you should enjoy this one with caution.
Although not originally part of the core Tiki cocktail range, these days the Jungle Bird Cocktail is well and truly considered Tiki, despite having an ingredient like Campari which is a lot more unusual in tropical cocktails, let alone Tiki drinks.
Regardless of whether you think this is proper Tiki or not, it's a great cocktail to drink with friends on a warm night, or when you're faking a warm night.
Total Time 5 minutes
Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

  • 45 mL Dark Rum
  • 20 mL Campari
  • 45 mL Pineapple Juice
  • 15 mL Lime Juice
  • 15 mL Simple Syrup*
  • Garnish with pineapple leaves, wedge, and a cherry

Instructions

  • Pour Rum, Campari, Pineapple Juice, Lime Juice, and Simple Syrup into a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shake until cold.
  • Strain everything into a Rocks glass with one large ice cub or a few smaller ice cubes.
  • Add garnish via a cocktail spear, make it look pretty.
  • Drink!

Notes

*Learn how to make Simple Syrup.
For best results use high quality ingredients and fresh juice. Tropical drinks such as this thrive on fresh juice, so don't disappoint your taste buds!
As mentioned, this cocktail originated in Malaysia. It was created as a welcome drink for the opening of the Kuala Lumpur Hilton in 1973 and quickly travelled around the world. Giving this drink further Tiki credibility, during this Grand Opening, the cocktail was served in a ceramic glass shaped like a bird (the hotel bar was called the Aviary), with guests enjoying the drink through the bird's tail.

Our Review of the Jungle Bird Cocktail

What I love about the Jungle Bird Cocktail is that it’s bitter (thanks to the Campari obviously). There’s not a lot in the recipe that adds sweetness (except for the simple syrup of course), but the pineapple juice also adds a little bit too. But, to a little bit of surprise, the Jungle Bird Cocktail isn’t overly bitter. Dark rum has some natural sweetness to it, but the Campari tends to take over a little bit. There’s a definite Negroni energy happening, except with rum and fruit juice.

These are all reasons why I really enjoy the Jungle Bird. It’s a tropical cocktail, for sure, but… different. Personally, I think the element of bitterness adds to the refreshment here. Long, tall, fruit filled cocktails are wonderful for lounging around with, but something like the Jungle Bird is more of a tropical aperitif that’s great for a more sophisticated evening in the hot weather. After all, you can’t be going full Tiki all the time. That’s my opinion at least!

I’ve already mentioned that the Campari comes through quite a lot in this recipe, and that’s almost a bad thing. Campari can really take over and, even with all the fruit juice and the help of a great rum, the Campari is still doing its thing. This is all the more reason to use high quality ingredients and fresh fruit juice. Give the Campari something to fight again!

If you’ve had all the fruit and rum cocktails under the sun, but want to try something different, with a surprising but wonderful flavour profile, the Jungle Bird is certainly a cocktail to add to your list. You won’t regret it!

9/10

  • Review by Emily

Dark Rum is wonderful, so why not make some more cocktails?

Check out the links below for more cocktails you can make with some Rum. You’ll be sure to find something you like:

Our top 10 Rum cocktail recipes: we’ll start with our favourite Rum cocktail recipes. This is a great place to start if you’re looking for something to make.

All Rum cocktail recipes: if the top 10 list isn’t enough for you, just check out all of our Rum cocktail recipes. There’s a fair few.

All Dark Rum cocktail recipes: you’ve already got the bottle of Dark Rum open, so you may be interested in keeping it open and making even more from it. Check it out!

All Tiki cocktail recipes: if Tiki is your thing, we have a few more Tiki cocktail recipes for you to check out. Have fun!

One Response

  1. 5 stars
    I was surprised at how good this cocktail was. You’d think the Campari wouldn’t work but it really does. Going t0 make another one of these soon.

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