The Cocktail Napkin – Drunken Flamingo

Jo Petteruti, Mixologist and Owner, Jo's Stillwater Tea Room
08/07/2020 09:24 AM (update 04/10/2023 11:10 PM)

Did you know that flamingos can get drunk? And, when they do, they love to dance...! Actually, flamingos don't really get drunk - but they sure can dance.

Pinky was a 19 year old Chilean flamingo that was born at Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida. She lived with 19 other flamingos, but set herself apart from the pink crowd with her entertaining spirit. Pinky loved to dance for the visitors. Her keepers said that dancing is not a trained behavior, but a natural behavior that she just happened to love to show off.

Flamingos are filter feeders, using their beaks to strain tasty morsels out of the water around them as they wade. To stir up the tastiest treats, flamingos will stamp their webbed feet. However, Pinky often performed this toe-tapping behavior out of the water, stomping and spinning in a circle as she stomped.

The Drunken Flamingo also happens to be a nightclub with two locations in Denmark, in Copenhagen and Aalborg. Both locations are designed as an exotic tropical paradise hosting nightly flamingo parties, and both serve a variety of tropical cocktails. But neither one serves a cocktail called the Drunken Fflamingo...

The Drunken Flamingo also became a theme at a recent birthday party that I attended, with a beautiful drunken flamingo cake, pink flamingo lights and full-size garden statues. We had a blast, and the notion of creating a cocktail by that name was born. Of course, the cocktail would have to be pink and having a couple of them should make you feel like dancing too.

So, let's forget everyday life for a few moments, and take a trip to a tropical paradise where flamingos can get drunk and dance. The vanilla aroma and spice tones of the Villa One tequila blended with pink grapefruit and lime juices may stir tropical thoughts for you too.

Drunken Flamingo Ingredients:

2 oz. Villa One Reposado Tequila
½ oz. Lime Juice
2 oz. Pink Grapefruit Juice
Fresh lime slices, mint leaves and sprigs

Preparation:

Chill a coupe or martini glass.
Add a scoop of ice to a cocktail shaker, then add the liquid ingredients, a slice of fresh lime and a couple of mint leaves. The cocktail will have some nice little bits of lime and mint in there when served.
Cover and shake until icy cold.
Strain the shaker's ingredients into the chilled glass and garnish with a lime slice and mint sprig.