The Blue bird is a

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...

or vodka

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

with

blue curacao Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obse ...

. ''The Savoy Cocktail Book'' gives the recipe as gin with Angostura bitters and curacao. Another recipe from the '' Café Royal Cocktail Book'' (1937) uses vodka instead of gin, adding maraschino liquor, and fresh lemon juice. The original gin-based cocktail was reimagined by Bill Tarling, who was known for various blue colored cocktails. The earlier recipe used angostura bitters which would have effected the final color of the cocktail, and may be the reason behind Tarling's changes to the original recipe. The bluebird is shaken with ice and served in a chilled cocktail glass with an orange peel garnish.

References

Cocktails with gin Cocktails with vodka Cocktails with triple sec or curaçao Cocktails with fruit liqueur Cocktails with lemon juice Cocktails with Angostura bitters Three-ingredient cocktails {{cocktail-stub