Royal Jungle Bird – Copin-Cautel Grand Reserve
The Jungle Bird is one of my favourite tropical cocktails. The fruity flavours just form a perfect balance with the Jamaica rum and the bitter liqueur. When I got my hands on a new interesting champagne, I had the idea of adding a splash of it to the original Jungle Bird recipe. Which if course, the cocktail does not need, but isn’t everything better with a little champagne?
As the champagne for this little experiment I chose the Copin-Cautel Grand Reserve which became only recently available here in Germany, because the guys behind Champagnerdirekt.de import it themselves. The Copin-Cautel vineyard lies in Vandières and Philippe Copin makes nature-oriented champagne there since 1996. The cuvée consists of 50 % Chardonnay, 25 % Pinot Noir and 25 % Pinot Meunier. It is not classified as a vintage champagne, but actually all grapes come from just one year. My bottle supposedly is from 2012.
Red and yellow fruits with a little yeast
Since I went a bit crazy and tried the Copin-Cautel Grand Reserve from six different wine glasses, I will follow up with an article on the influences on the champagne’s taste when “Tropical Month” is over. However, the overall flavours of this hidden vintage are a combination of fresh yellow fruits and darker red berries. The “Reserve” part is also noticeable through a distinct yeast note. On top of that, you can also notice slight citrus notes after a while. In conclusion, the Grand Reserve is a more than reasonable champagne and good value for money. Make sure to grab a bottle before it is gone!
A Nitro Jungle Bird
For the “Royal” version, I just took the regular Jungle Bird cocktail and added champagne. Apart from that, I also used the Bitter Del Professore instead of the regular Campari. In my opinion, the Del Professore is a bit more refined, a bit less bitter and more balanced. For the rum I went for the excellent Navy Island Navy Strength. However, this also means that the drink has quite a bit of power!
2,25 cl Bitter Del Professore
4,5 cl Pineapple Juice
2,25 cl Lime Juice
1,5 cl Simple Syrup
Shake – strain – chilled Tropical Cocktail glass;
Garnish: No Garnish;
Song: Mocky – Bird of a Feather;
The most impressive thing I noticed about the “Royal Jungle Bird” is its unique mouthfeel. The combination of pineapple juice and sparkling champagne almost reminded me of a nitro stout. Of course, the rest of the taste is quite different from a stout! You get typical Jungle Bird notes in the form of Jamaica rum, pineapple and bitter flavours. Despite its power the fruity and complex aromas make the drink go down almost too easy. If you have an open bottle of high-quality sparkling wine and are a fan of the Jungle Bird, you should definitely give this one a try!
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The champagne was provided by Champagnerdirekt.de.
