Jungle Bird
Campari and pineapple have no business working together, and yet here we are. This is the drink that’s been quietly converting people who assume tiki means sweet.
Dark rum gives it a spine, and the bitterness keeps it from collapsing into fruit juice. One of the few tiki drinks you’ll want in a rocks glass.
Jungle Bird
Rocks · Over ice
Ingredients
- 1½ ozAged Dark Rum
- ¾ ozCampari
- 1½ ozPineapple juice
- ½ ozFresh lime juice
- ½ ozSimple syrup
- garnishPineapple wedge
Method
- 1Combine dark rum, Campari, pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker.
- 2Add ice and shake hard for 12 seconds.
- 3Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
- 4Garnish with a pineapple wedge and frond.
History
Created in 1978 by bartender Jeffrey Ong at the Aviary Bar of the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, designed as a welcome cocktail for arriving guests. It languished in obscurity until published in Beachbum Berry's *Remixed* (2009), after which it rapidly became a cult favorite and a recognized tiki classic. Its genius — and what makes it so unusual — is that it uses Campari as a primary ingredient in a tiki context, a decision that should theoretically fail but instead produces a bitter-fruity balance with remarkable staying power.
Use a full-bodied aged Jamaican rum — Appleton Estate Signature or Smith & Cross — whose funk and molasses character can stand up to Campari's bitterness. Light rum disappears. Campari is the soul of this drink and is non-substitutable; do not attempt a "less bitter" version. Fresh pineapple juice, if available, adds a brightness that canned juice cannot match.
