Cleveland Black Cherry Bird
This week’s cocktail, The Cleveland Black Cherry Bird, is a riff on the classic “Jungle Bird.” To give you a little background, the original was a rum-based cocktail and dates back to the 1970s. It was first crafted by Jeffrey Ong inside the Kuala Lumpur Hilton hotel. The hotel opened in 1973 in Malaysia and the Jungle Bird cocktail was served as a welcome drink for visitors. They say that they used to serve it inside a porcelain bird-shaped vessel, how cool is that!? Today, Jungle Bird recipes are staples on tropical cocktail menus and most bartenders use blackstrap rum for its richness. We thought our Cleveland Black Cherry Bourbon would be the perfect substitute to give this cocktail a Cleveland Whiskey twist!
Besides the rum, the recipe calls for lime juice, pineapple juice, Campari, and some sort of sugar. We followed the original recipe pretty closely but we did add in some White Grape Juice and agave syrup. The sweetness of the fruit juices is balanced out by our slightly tart and slightly sweet Cleveland Black Cherry Bourbon and the bitter taste of the Campari. Finish it off with a pineapple wedge garnish and really get in the spirit! We know you’re not running a hotel but why not turn your kitchen into a Tiki-style bar and greet your friends at the door with this Cleveland Black Cherry Bird? They will be blown away, cheers!
Pro tip: Summer will be here before you know it, revisit this recipe when that time comes!
Cleveland Black Cherry Bird
Ingredients
- 1 1/2oz Underground Black Cherry Wood Bourbon
- 3/4 oz Campari
- 1 oz Pineapple Juice
- 1/2 oz White Grape Juice
- 1/4 oz Lime Juice
- 1/2 oz Agave Syrup
- Pineapple Wedge
Instructions
- In a cocktail tin with ice, combine bourbon, Campari, pineapple juice, white grape juice, lime juice, and agave syrup.
- Shake well. Make sure the mixture is foamy.
- Strain into a cocktail glass with ice.
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge.