The Jungle Bird is one of my favourite tiki cocktails and for the past few years I’ve been toying with the idea of a stirred or otherwise clear version without ever quite nailing it. With this reverse (or you might say flipped?) Jungle Bird highball I think I’ve finally got the concept where I want it. This version turns the traditional ratio on it’s head with an amaro base and dark rum modifier and uses an acidified pineapple soda rather than pineapple and lime juice. This creates a unique experience that is still recognizable as a jungle bird and yet completely different.
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1.5 oz Cynar
0.5 oz Bacardi Black Rum
0.25 oz Martini Bitter Riserva
3 oz Acidified Pineapple Soda*
Build (ideally on a clear ice spear in a collins glass) and top with pineapple soda.
Pineapple frond birdtail garnish:
Split a pineapple frond down the middle from the pointy end to about 2/3 of the way down. Cross the split ends over each other and pin in place with a bamboo pick.
*Pineapple Soda: Clarify 6l fresh pineapple juice with agar agar, (whisk one 25g agar agar packet into 2l pineapple juice in a large pot and bring to a boil while stirring frequently. Simmer for 4 minutes then slowly add the remaining 4 litres pineapple while whisking the mixture. Put the pot in the fridge till it sets to the consistency of jello, break the jello into curds with a whisk and put into an oil filter or superbag in a fine strainer over a bucket in the fridge overnight.) Add 3% citric and 1.5% Malic acid by weight to the clarified juice. Add 1 part Pineapple Syrup** to 3 parts clarified juice. Add 1 part soda water per 4 parts pineapple soda mix. Carbonate in a plastic bottle with hand carbonation rig.
**Pineapple syrup: Weigh the pulp left over from juicing your pineapples and add 1 part by weight white sugar to 2 parts pineapple pulp. Stir to combine, let macerate overnight and strain through a cooking oil filter.
