June Bug Cocktail

Like most famous Midori cocktails, the June Bug was created in the ’80s. Unlike the others, it was born at a T.G.I Friday’s. Bet you never would’ve guessed that!

It’s got a tiki drink kind of vibe – so it’s perfect for hot weather and beach days. It’s on the sweeter side of cocktails with notes of coconut, pineapple, banana, melon and citrus.

I usually make mine in a highball glass, though I’ve seen it served in everything from a hurricane glass, to a coupe, and even a standard pint glass. Use whatever you have!

If this is your kind of cocktail, I recommend using the rest of your Midori bottle to make a Midori Sour and melon ball shots.

If you like heavy hitters but still want some fruity flavor, try the Tokyo Iced Tea recipe that got over 10 million views on TikTok!

Ingredients

• Malibu – Malibu original is typically used in this drink. You can substitute a traditional coconut rum but the flavor will be a bit different.
• Melon Liqueur – I always go with Midori, but any brand will work.
• Banana Liqueur – Some say this is optional, but I think it’s a key ingredient. You could sub 99 bananas in a pinch.
•  Pineapple Juice – I keep small cans of Dole pineapple juice on my bar cart so that I always have them available. You can get fancy and use fresh juice, if preferred.
• Sweet & Sour – The OG version of this cocktail certainly used store-bought as that was a bar staple at the time, but you can also use fresh, homemade sweet & sour.

Tips

• There’s lots of room for creativity here as far as garnishes go. You can keep it simple with a pineapple wedge and a cherry, or use pineapple fronds, mint leaves, and cocktail umbrellas.
• To make the ice, I like to put large cubes in a Lewis bag and smash them into crushed ice, or use my Opal to make pebble ice.
• If you want to serve this to a crowd, it can easily be scaled up. For a 32 oz pitcher, multiply the ingredients in the recipe below by 6.