The zombie is one of those drinks that really go down in history as a staple to the American “tiki craze” back in the 1940s and beyond. I must say, this is one drink will not normally order when going to a bar. That being said, this is more of an APPRECIATION post for one of the great staples in tiki cocktail history.
HISTORY
This drink is one that comes from the legendary Don the Beachcomber. It appeared first in late 1934, and Donn Beach did all he could to keep it a secret. Why is it called a “zombie” anyway? Well, story has it, that he first served the creation for some travelers that were on a business trip and felt like “zombies” after
During the time of the cocktail being first served at the restaurant, he went so far as to encode the recipe itself. Not event the employees knew what was in the drink! The employees were required to use number-marked bottles and use those numbers (without knowing even the contents of the bottle) to match the specifications that Donn Beach set out to them.
It wasn’t long before other restaurants began to “poach” his bartenders with higher salaries, just in the efforts to steal Beach’s recipes. The competitors STILL couldn’t get their hands on a trade secret that Beach had created. So, these other restaurants created endless spin offs and variations to try and compete with Donn the Beachcomber.
Several years after, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry was determined to find bits and pieces of the recipes from writings of the day, as well as contacting old Beachcomber employees in 1994. It wasn’t until about ten years after that he made some headway. The biggest piece of information he found was what was called, “Donn’s Mix”. Thus, the zombie was resurrected!
RECIPE
Here is the recipe, remade from Beachbum’s findings:
0.75oz (22mL) lime juice
0.5oz (15mL) Falernum
1.5oz (45mL) Puerto Rican gold rum
1.5oz (45mL) dark Jamaican rum
1oz (30mL) 151-proof Demerara rum
1 teaspoon grenadine
6 drops Pernod absinthe
1 dash Angostura bitters
0.5oz (15mL) “Don’s Mix” (see below)
HOW TO MAKE THE DONS MIX:
2 parts grapefruit to 1 part cinnamon syrup (2:1 sugar to water for syrup). Mix the juice with the cinnamon syrup to incorporate.
Preparation of cocktail:
Add all ingredients to a blender with about six ounces (3/4 cup) of crushed ice and blend for five seconds to emulsify all ingredients. Pour into a tall glass and then add ice to top it off.
Garnish: mint sprig
Even though I do not often find myself enjoying zombies very often when I go to the bar, this one is great for the history books and will be a staple in the tiki culture for many years moving forward.
Be careful and drink responsibly, because Don himself would limit two zombies per customer at his restaurants!
Jonathan Echavarria 