Name: Dead Parrot Colada
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 15 ml Akvavit / Aquavit; 15 ml Blue curaçao liqueur; 7.5 ml Maraschino liqueur; 15 ml Lemon juice; 45 ml Coconut water; 15 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Dead Parrot Colada
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Serve in a Collins glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Akvavit / Aquavit
¹⁄₂ oz	Bols Blue Curaçao
¹⁄₄ oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Coconut water
¹⁄₂ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
Prepare garnish of small stuffed dead parrot that's passed on, no more, expired and gone to meet 'is maker, a stiff, bereft of life, rests in peace, pushing up the daisies, off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible. An ex-parrot. And preferably one with "lovely plumage"..
BLEND all ingredients with crushed ice.
Serve with straws.

Cocktail of the day:

7th December 2025 is Celebrating a Dead Parrot

Review:

Gin and delicate maraschino cherry with orange and lemon, coconut and a hint of Norwegian aquavit character.

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History:

Created in July 2014 by yours truly after watching Monty Python's famed Dead Parrot Sketch performed by John Cleese and Michael Palin at London's O2 arena.

The use of Lysholm Linie Aquavit and the cocktail's colour is inspired by the "Norwegian Blue" parrot while gin represents British humour. The coconut and loose colada theme comes from the late 1960s/70s when the sketch was originally performed.

In the sketch, the disgruntled customer Mr Praline (played by Cleese) returns a "Norwegian Blue" parrot to the shopkeeper (Michael Palin) explaining, "That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk."

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of Dead Parrot Colada contains 223 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
14.05% alc./vol. (14.05° proof)
22.1 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Dan Casselman

14th May 2022 at 22:10

3 of 5 Stars, for the lovely plumage. For my birthday my wife found a small stuffed dead parrot that’s passed on ... Best birthday present ever! But not liking slushy cold drinks the garnish was better than the drink. I thought the coconut water should have been coconut cream to give a richer more flavourful mouth feel. Will definitely have this again on the patio with friends (do Monty Python fans even have friends?)

Clarence Castillo

26th April 2022 at 02:16

Honestly it's not even in the top ten Monty Python bits. Probably not even top twenty.

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