Make Myna Double: Alum’s New Cocktail Book Takes Flight
Katie Stryjewski (GRS’15,’15) combines an expertise in ornithology with a passion for creative cocktails in her new book, Make Myna Double. Photo by Katie Stryjewski
Make Myna Double: Alum’s New Cocktail Book Takes Flight
Katie Stryjewski (GRS’15,’15) combines birds and beverages—two passions—in her latest work
Katie Stryjewski’s two professional lives overlapped at BU. While studying the rapid evolution of finch species in Papua New Guinea and Australia en route to a PhD in biology, she began creating and photographing cocktails in her spare time.
Stryjewski (GRS’15,’15) completed her degree, but has made her living as a cocktail content creator and an author. More than a decade later, she’s combined her two passions in one book: Make Myna Double: Cocktails for Bird Lovers (Mango, 2025), which she wrote and illustrated.
The book’s 57 cocktail and 9 mocktail recipes offer twists on classic drinks alongside some of Stryjewski’s original creations—each paired with a clever bird-inspired name (Macawsmopolitan, Ptarmigimlet, Tequila Sunbird) and a colorful illustration. But it’s the short essays accompanying each recipe that set this book apart. Drawing on her academic background, she weaves together biological and cultural details to make the link between bird and drink stronger than a witty pun.
Bostonia spoke with Stryjewski about her two passions and her new book.
Q&A
With Katie Stryjewski
Bostonia: How did you get interested in birds?
For as long as I can remember, I was interested in them. I really wanted a pet bird and I eventually got a parakeet. Then I became more interested in wild birds. I grew up outside New Orleans, so LSU [Louisiana State University] was right down the road. LSU is one of the top universities in the country for ornithology, and they were so encouraging of undergraduate research.
Bostonia: You moved on to BU for your PhD, but eventually pivoted away from academia. Why was that?
I started my cocktail blog two or three years before I graduated, as a hobby. I was learning to make a lot of drinks at home, and I was interested in getting more into photography as well, so I thought it would be a fun way to document that whole process. There’s a really nice online community around cocktails. And then I reluctantly started an Instagram account, and that ended up being what grew really quickly. Companies started sending me products to try, and I would occasionally get paid to post something.
After I graduated, I did a one-year postdoc at Harvard, and I also got pregnant with my son. And this cocktail thing was taking off. It was a convenient time to step back for a minute. I would have liked to continue working with birds, but it was pretty clear that academia wasn’t for me. During that time off, I started making enough money to call it a job—and I really enjoyed having something more creative to do.
Bostonia: When did you get the idea to connect cocktails and birds?
I started collecting cocktail/bird puns, where you mix a cocktail name and a bird name. I don’t remember what the first one that I came up with was, but I started a Word document and listed them.
Bostonia: In Make Myna Double, you blend two seemingly unrelated topics—what sort of book were you hoping to create?
I had in mind the kind of thing somebody would pick up at a bookstore or gift shop and kind of chuckle a little and flip through and see the names, and get a nice little laugh. But as I started writing it, it kept getting more and more scientific, and some of the stories are very cultural. Like, I wrote about how the namesake of James Bond was an ornithologist. I had so many things that I think are interesting to share.
Bostonia: What sort of readers did you have in mind?
I assumed that people would either be very into cocktails and a little interested in birds or vice versa. These hobbies naturally attract very curious people. One thing that really attracted me to drinks was the stories behind them, and the history of all these classic cocktails—and, obviously, birders love learning about birds and making lists.
Bostonia: One of your drinks is named after a bird you studied at BU, the honeyguide, which lays its eggs in other species’ nests. What’s the story behind that drink?
Honeyguides match the shape of their eggs to different nests. When we sequenced their mitochondrial DNA, we saw these two very clear groups: honeyguides that parasitize birds that lay their eggs in tree nests and [those that lay their eggs in] earthen nests, like cavities. The genetics told us something about the behavior of these birds: they were imprinting on the kind of nests that they were raised in and would lay their eggs in that kind of nest. Also, the name evokes a flavor, and then the egg worked well. So the drink is a flip, a cocktail that involves a whole egg, and I make it with a gin that is distilled with honey.
Bostonia: Are there other drinks with such a strong connection to their namesake birds?
Another one that I like is the sidecardinal. I wrote about sexual dimorphism and why male and female cardinals look different. With that drink, I give two options—they differ by one ingredient and one comes out red and one comes out brown. That was a neat connection to make.
Bostonia: What’s next for you?
I feel like I’m at a bit of a turning point. I’m very reliant on Instagram for my income, and it’s a platform that’s continually changing. When I first started, I experienced really rapid growth and a lot of engagement. In recent years, my growth has sort of stalled. Other creators I’ve spoken to have noticed the same thing. That has driven home that I probably can’t do this this way forever; Instagram is not going to be around in its current form forever. So the book was one great way to diversify a little bit and not have all my eggs in that one basket.