Zombie Cocktail Recipe

A fresh, frosty version of the oft-maligned tiki classic. Updated February 11, 2019 Perhaps the only thing more frightening than the idea of zombies roaming the city in search of fresh brains is the concoction you’ll find in front of you when you say “Zombie” in your average bar. Once the pinnacle drink of the mid-century Polynesian phenomenon, the Zombie has been mangled beyond recognition in the decades since its 1930s debut. This is primarily the fault of the drink‘s creator, Donn Beach, who had such success with the Zombie at his Don the Beachcomber bar that he jealously guarded the recipe from rivals, using unmarked bottles behind the bar and compiling some ingredients beforehand so that even staff members wouldn’t know what was in them. At Don the Beachcomber, you could get an authentic Zombie, a powerful yet balanced amalgam of rum, juice, and sweeteners. At other bars, eager to capitalize on the Zombie’s popularity, bartenders would throw whatever ingredients they had on hand together, creating drinks that were powerful, no doubt, but typically far from the quality of the original that launched a thousand tiki mugs. And this is the way it remained, until a few years ago when dedicated drink anthropologist Jeff “Beachbum” Berry managed to acquire a private recipe book from 1937 once owned by Dick Santiago, who worked at Don the Beachcomber in the 1930s. As Berry details in Sippin’ Safari, one of the recipes inside was for the Zombie Punch—the way the drink was listed for its 1934 debut. Grapefruit and cinnamon are key ingredients, along with falernum, Pernod, grenadine, and three (count ’em) rums. While it still has enough rum in it to pickle the undead, this Zombie is less likely to cause much of a fright at your Halloween party. This recipe will make more cinnamon syrup than you need for this drink. You can store it in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Adapted from Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari. For Cinnamon Syrup: 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup water 1 cinnamon stick, crushed For Each Cocktail: 1 teaspoon cinnamon syrup 2 teaspoons grapefruit juice 1 1/2 ounces Jamaican rum (Appleton V/X) 1 1/2 ounces gold Puerto Rican rum (Bacardi 8) 1 ounce 151-proof Demerara rum (Lemon Hart) 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce Falernum (Fee Brothers is a recommended brand, or make your own) 1 dash Angostura bitters 6 drops Herbsaint or Pernod 1 teaspoon grenadine 3/4 cup crushed ice For the Cinnamon Syrup: Combine sugar, water, and crushed cinnamon stick over medium heat. Stir over medium heat until dissolved and mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, keeping pan covered, for at least two hours. Strain into a bottle. For Each Cocktail: Combine 1 teaspoon of cinnamon syrup with grapefruit juice, Jamaican rum, Puerto Rican rum, Demerera Rum, lime juice, falernum, Angostura, Herbsaint or Pernod, and grenadine in a blender, then add the ice. Blend at high for a maximum of 5 seconds. Pour into a tall chimney glass and add ice cubes until full. Garnish with fresh mint. Special equipment Blender This Recipe Appears In 10 New Year’s Eve Cocktails Nutrition Facts (per serving) 579 Calories 5g Fat 70g Carbs 2g Protein Show Full Nutrition Label × Nutrition Facts Servings: 1 Amount per serving Calories 579 % Daily Value* 5g 6% Saturated Fat 0g 2% 0mg 0% 104mg 5% 70g 25% Dietary Fiber 1g 4% Total Sugars 42g 2g Vitamin C 11mg 54% Calcium 37mg 3% Iron 0mg 3% Potassium 114mg 2% *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. (Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Zombie Cocktail Recipe