3-Ingredient Brass Monkey Cocktail Recipe

If "brass monkey" means nothing to you, it may be time to brush up on your knowledge of '80s hip-hop hits. A fun and funky song released by the Beastie Boys in 1986, the lyrics outline a night of drinking Brass Monkey, a drink that, nearly 30 years later, barely exists beyond the lines of the song. At the time, though, the Heublein Company produced a bottled cocktail called Brass Monkey, one of the first of its kind to be available on liquor store shelves. The drink, which the company described as being "the color of sunshine with the mystery of moonlight," is what inspired the Beastie Boys' hit (and their less poetic description of it being "that funky monkey").

Both Heublein and its bottled cocktail are long gone, but the spirit of the drink can live on with the simple process of mixing a few liquors at home. Heublein never revealed the formula for its drink, but decades of Brass Monkey fan research has led to a simple, effective mixer that pretty closely replicates the original drink. Mixed with dark rum, vodka, and orange juice, the potent drink is another flavorful riff on a screwdriver, served over ice for a tropical, summery cocktail. It goes down as easy as it's made — just like the Beastie Boys insisted.

You'll only need three ingredients to make a Brass Monkey, and they may all already be in your liquor cabinet. You'll need a standard vodka, a good dark rum, and orange juice, which can be as simple as your favorite brand of bottled OJ or a good amount of freshly squeezed. The drink doesn't require a garnish, but if you'd like to add one, I recommend a simple orange slice.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.

Add vodka, rum, and orange juice to the cocktail shaker.

Shake for 20 seconds, until chilled and frothy.

Fill a highball glass with ice.

Strain the cocktail over the ice, garnish with an orange, if desired, and serve.

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Those opposed to the Wisconsin old fashioned can tell you with great certainty that adding sparkling mixers to a cocktail base is, at best, a riff on the original, and at worst, a total wrongdoing to the recipe. It may be because I am a fan of the sparkling, brandy-forward old fashioned, but I think some cocktails invite the addition of carbonation, and the brass monkey is certainly one of them. The reason, though, isn't simply because bubbly tastes good with OJ (example: the mimosa), but because there exists a version of the brass monkey that is already carbonated.

An alternative way to make a brass monkey is by pouring orange juice into a bottle of malt liquor, which is a potent, high-ABV version of beer that tastes sweeter and less bitter than any lager or IPA. Because malt liquor isn't exactly easy to find anymore, you can also simply add sparkling water, Sprite, or Prosecco to the vodka-rum mixture instead. Sparkling water will mute the flavors a bit, Sprite will add more citrus flavor, and Prosecco, of course, will make it stronger.

Some variations of the brass monkey are made with white rum instead of dark rum, so the swap is not an issue at all — it's really a matter of which taste you prefer (or which one you have on your shelf). White rum and dark rum are both made from sugarcane, but are aged differently, thus producing two very different flavor profiles. Dark rum, which, as the name implies, is visually darker, is aged in wooden barrels, which also gives it a smoky, woody flavor similar to bourbon. White rum, on the other hand, is lighter and milder in flavor.

Dark rum will add notes of vanilla and molasses, so use it in your brass monkey if you want a full-bodied, rich drink (I'd like to think this is the part that tastes like "the mystery of moonlight"). Use white rum for a more citrus-forward drink or if you prefer white liquors over brown. As an alternative, you can also use bourbon in place of rum or swap it for coconut rum for a piña colada-flavored riff.

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