Yellow Bird
A fruity and sweet cocktail ∙ Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 12% ABV ∙
The Yellow Bird is a shaken tiki drink of light gold and white rum, banana liqueur and Galliano with orange, pineapple and lime juice, served long.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Light gold rum 20 mlWhite rum 20 mlBanana liqueur 15 mlGalliano L’Autentico liqueur 10 mlOrange juice 45 mlPineapple juice 25 mlLime juice 5 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry on a skewer
Tips
- It is fine-strained into a chilled Collins glass with no ice, so shake hard to get it properly cold.
History
The Yellow Bird's origin is not firmly documented, and even its name is disputed. Written use of the name is traced to the Half Moon resort in Rose Hall, Jamaica, in the mid-1950s, where an early version reportedly mixed rum, coffee liqueur, banana liqueur, and orange juice, a build quite different from the modern formula. Some accounts instead point to Hawaii, suggesting the drink emerged at the Shell Bar in the Hawaiian Village resort, where a hit exotica recording of the tune "Yellow Bird" was said to be played regularly around 1961.
Sources disagree on why it carries the name. One explanation ties it to that song, an English-language rewrite of the 19th-century Haitian tune "Choucoune," popularized through Harry Belafonte's recording and reaching wider fame via Arthur Lyman's 1961 version. Others argue the name has nothing to do with the song and instead comes simply from the drink's bright yellow hue, produced by the golden Italian liqueur Galliano and its citrus juices.
The rum, Galliano, triple sec and lime juice recipe now considered standard was heavily promoted in Galliano's own advertising in the early 1970s, including a multi-page placement in the Palm Beach Post in 1972. That helped fix it as the popular template, though tiki-bar versions with extra fruit juices and rums have long coexisted. This Yellow Bird recipe is one of those tiki versions, with two rums, banana liqueur, and orange and pineapple juice, and no triple sec. The cocktail joined the IBA's official New Era Drinks with the 2011 revision and was removed from the list in the 2024 update.
FAQ
What is in a Yellow Bird cocktail?
20 ml each of light gold rum and white rum, 15 ml banana liqueur, and 10 ml Galliano L’Autentico. The juices are 45 ml fresh orange, 25 ml pineapple, and 5 ml fresh lime. It comes in at about 12% ABV.
How do you make a Yellow Bird drink?
Shake all seven ingredients hard with ice and fine-strain into a chilled Collins glass with no ice; the hard shake is what gets it cold. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry on a skewer.
What's the best rum for a Yellow Bird?
A mix of light gold and white rum, 20 ml each, as in this recipe. The gold rum adds a mild molasses note that suits the banana liqueur and Galliano. The white rum keeps the drink light enough for the citrus and pineapple to come through.
