Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia · 1978
Jungle Bird
Malaysian, bitter, and the drink that made craft bartenders take tiki seriously.
- Created by
- The Aviary Bar, Kuala Lumpur Hilton
- Tastes like
- Bitter Campari against sweet pineapple — the modern-tasting one
- Glass
- Rocks glass over crushed ice
- Garnish
- Pineapple wedge and leaves
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 ozblackstrap or dark Jamaican rum
- 3/4 ozCampari
- 1 1/2 ozfresh pineapple juice
- 1/2 ozfresh lime juice
- 1/2 ozsimple syrup
Method
- 1.Shake everything with ice for about 10 seconds.
- 2.Strain over fresh crushed ice in a rocks glass.
- 3.Garnish with a pineapple wedge and its leaves.
Not Caribbean and not Californian. The Jungle Bird was the welcome drink at the Aviary Bar in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton in 1978, served in a ceramic bird to guests as they checked in.
It vanished when the hotel's tiki era ended and would have stayed gone if Jeff "Beachbum" Berry had not printed it in Beachbum Berry Remixed in 2002. It has been on the ascent ever since.
The trick is Campari. Bitterness cutting across pineapple reads as a very contemporary idea, and it is nearly fifty years old — which is most of the reason this drink became the bridge between the craft cocktail world and tiki.
Thatch note
Order this at a bar you are quietly evaluating. Anyone who carries a Jungle Bird knows exactly what they are doing, and they will be pleased you asked.