The Wapatui

When a colleague asked me if I had ever made jungle juice in high school or college, I had no idea what she was talking about -- until she told me what it was: enough grain alcohol to fill a trash can mixed with a lot of fruit.

Where I'm from, we called it a wapatui, or as in this reference from an article in Newsweek about John Kerry, a wapatooey:

“His speeches can be a hash of proposals and exhortations--a 'wapatooey,' as pour-it-all-in-the-punchbowl drinks are known on some college campuses.”

The Urban Dictionary says alternate spellings/pronunciations include: wapatuli, wapatooly, wapatoolie, hairy buffalo, Jesus juice, trashcan punch and Tequila punch. The submitted recipe goes as follows:

Each guest to the party brings a bottle of alcohol. All the alcohol is mixed in a large garbage can or other suitable container. Several different kinds of juice are added along with sliced apples, oranges, kiwi, pineapple, papaya. Just about any kind of fruit will work. It is best served over ice in a plastic cup. There are several different recipes.

Standard Wapatuli
3 bottle 750 ml Blts each Gin Rum Vodka
5 Gallons Apple Cider
5 Gallons Lemonade
5 Gallons Orange Juice
1 Case Beer
30 Lbs Ice
Chop Up Pineapple, Oranges, Melons, or Your Choice of Fruit

Why you'd add a case of beer to that mix, I don't know. As far as I know, the wapatuis in the Twin Cities area tended to be vodka or everclear, plus lots of fresh fruit in a large tub or trash can. Most people called it a wop.

The Urban Dictionary's entry for jungle juice has a similar recipe, but with kool-aid mix (and no beer). Google has many more references for jungle juice than for wapatuis.

Anyone know of any other regional variations?

I wrote about other regional terms like whipping shitties two years ago. For a totally foreign term to Midwesterners, as someone from Brooklyn what saloogi is. Or ask them what a cugine is.