This Chaotic Cocktail Most Likely Got Its Start As Wartime Hooch

Depending on your college experience, there's a good change you encountered a certain delicacy: jungle juice. Whether you sip dry martinis, craft beer, fine wine, allocated whiskey, or creative non-alcoholic cocktails today, it's undeniable that this particular kind of cocktail had its time and place for many of us. But our collective perception of this drink might be foggy at best. Jungle juice is remembered for being fruity, ridiculously strong, and typically served out of a trash can or bathtub. Questionable serving format aside, jungle juice has a rich history.

The concept of jungle juice was created by American soldiers stationed in the South Pacific during World War II — so it's not one of the many famed cocktails invented in the U.S., but it is an American innovation. These soldiers were technically allowed to imbibe but didn't actually have the booze to do so, nor were they able to import the drinks they may have been familiar with. So some became impromptu distillers — after all, if something has sugar, you can ferment it and then distill it with any manner of rough, DIY stills. The fruit around these soldiers became alcohol, sometimes with questionably swampy water; it was strong and not always the tastiest, so it might have been mixed with juice. In a pinch and consumed at high volumes, this jungle juice did its job.

Jungle juice is more of a concept than a specific recipe. World War II soldiers turned to the libation due to a lack of other options and made it out of whatever they had on hand. Similarly, college students are also dealing with tight budgets, so they make the cocktail from available ingredients and pour their homespun blends into any large, available vessel. 

"Jungle juice" as a term was first printed in the "New Yorker" in 1945, and the idea has persisted for generations. Appropriately, the specifications are loose: You can use vodka, gin, rum, or any combination of spirits you have on hand. Blend it with enough juice, and who can tell the difference, right? Especially not after a glass or two of the stuff. 

If this kind of drink sounds familiar but you're not acquainted with the specific term "jungle juice," that might be because, over time, the moniker has shape-shifted according to region. You might refer to it as "hooch" in the South, "spodie" in the Pacific Northwest, "wapatoola" in the Midwest, or "red death" just about anywhere else. If it's strong booze and juice, and maybe soda, you have WWII soldiers to thank. Try making a grown-up version of jungle juice with high-quality vodka, rum, and juice, and for a truly more enjoyable, sophisticated twist, remember the key tips for making batched cocktails like serving it at a nice, cold temperature and letting ice provide necessary dilution.