Dark 'n' Stormy
60 ml Dark rum, 100 ml Ginger beer, 10 ml Lime juice, 1 Lime wedge
Photo: Jungle bird cocktail by BanjoZebra · CC BY 4.0 · All credits
Ingredients
- 45 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon and a teaspoon. Dark rum
- 20 ml Spoons A tablespoon and a teaspoon. Campari
- 45 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon and a teaspoon. Pineapple juice
- 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Lime juice
- 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Simple syrup
- 1 wedge Pineapple (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Shake everything with ice and pour into a rocks glass.
Method
- Put all five liquids in a shaker with ice and shake hard for 12 seconds.
- Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice - or pour it unstrained over crushed ice if the evening is hot.
- Add a wedge of pineapple on the rim.
Serve it
Jungle Bird
It was created in 1978 at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton by a bartender named John J. Ong, and, like most things from that decade, it was quietly forgotten for thirty years before bartenders rediscovered it and realised how good it was. It is a tiki drink made bitter by Campari, which sounds like a mistake and turns out to be the whole charm: pineapple's sweet, sharp edge meets the orange rind bitterness and both are improved.
Getting it right
Fresh pineapple juice is a revelation here, and a blender or a juicer pays for itself in one summer. The Campari is not negotiable - take it out and you have a perfectly pleasant rum punch with no reason to exist. Keep the parts as written for your first one, then nudge the Campari up if you like your drinks bitter.
Tasting notes
Bitter orange and tropical fruit, with the rum holding it all down and a long, dry, faintly herbal finish. It tastes like a jungle holiday with a storm coming in.
