August 7-Jungle Bird

Now I was not expecting this cocktail to be this high up. Not because its bad or anything, I just didn’t expect many people to know this one. I guess that this is one of the more popular tiki drinks that came out in the early days of tiki. This is also one of the more balanced drinks from that era. In the Mai Tai post I did 2 days ago i talked about how most drinks from that time were overly sweet and off balance with 10 different juices per drink. This one does a nice job of balancing the sweetness with Campari.

Surprisingly enough this was not made by Don Beach or Trader Vic considering the niche it has in tiki. It was actually made by Jeffrey Ong at the Aviary which was a hotwel bar for a Hilton. Since the bar’s name is the Aviary, it makes sense their flagship drink mentions birds, especially tropical ones considering the tiki vibe it has. This cocktail includes campari which gives it its distinctive colour and flavour. Ity also balances the cocktail out quite a bit.

Full judging here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pSPM50vP2HNmBVYCZ1AE5IBepcZXKbvf3IL_uUlYwUM/edit?tab=t.0