zombie_cocktail

Zombie

Tropical, fruity and rum-based, the Zombie is one of the original Tiki cocktails. It’s a delicious punch that comes from a man by the name of Don the Beachcomber, who created a new craze for carved mugs and hula fashion.

About this recipe

Ingredients

Captain Morgan® Original Spiced Gold

Captain Morgan® Original Spiced Gold

Captain Morgan Original Spiced Gold is inspired by the Caribbean's beauty and abundant nature, with a delicious smooth-bodied and subtly spicy flavour.

How to make

Using a jigger, measure 50ml Captain Morgan Original Spiced Gold, 25ml Captain Morgan Original Rum, 15ml Orange Liqueur, 15ml apricot brandy, 50ml orange juice, 25ml pineapple juice, 25ml lime juice and 15ml grenadine into the shaker.

Shake the mixture vigorously in the cocktail shaker until the surface of the shaker feels chilled.

Strain using a strainer into a hurricane glass filled with ice cubes.

With a chopping board and sharp knife, cut a wedge of pineapple and place on the rim of the glass. Cut a slice of orange and place next to the pineapple, along with a mint sprig.

Be a good host

Everyone loves a bit of finger food and designated drivers will appreciate some fancy soft drinks.

Bartending/Cocktails/Zombie

The Zombie is an exceptionally strong cocktail made of fruit juices and rum, so named for its perceived effects on the drinker. It first appeared in the mid-1930s, invented by Donn Beach (formerly Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gannt) of Hollywood's Don the Beachcomber restaurant. He concocted it one afternoon in the mid-1930s for a friend who had dropped by his restaurant before flying to San Francisco. The friend left after having consumed three of them. He returned several days later to say that he had been turned into a zombie for his entire trip. Its smooth, fruity taste works to conceal its extremely high alcohol content. For many years the Don the Beachcomber restaurants limited their customers to 2 zombies apiece.

There are countless variations on the Zombie; every bar, chain restaurant, and individual seems to have their own take on it. The following are some of many possible zombies but is not as potent as the original recipe:

Ingredients Edit

• 1 oz light rum
• 1 oz golden rum
• 1 oz dark rum
• 1 oz apricot brandy
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• 1 oz papaya juice
• Dash of Grenadine or other syrup
• 1/2 oz 151-proof rum

Note: 1 oz equals 30 ml

Procedure Edit

1. Shake all ingredients except the 151-proof rum in a shaker with ice.
2. Strain into a collins or hurricane glass filled with ice cubes.
3. Float the 151-proof rum on top.
4. Garnish with pineapple and cherry.

Here is another recipe that is probably close to what the original version was. Don the Beachcomber originally used 5 or 6 kinds of Caribbean rum that are no longer easily available in the United States, so generic rums have been specified.

The following ingredients are supposedly for 1 drink but, with sufficient ice in 2 or 3 glasses, can actually make 2 or 3 very potent drinks.

Ingredients Edit

• 4 oz. (½ cup) water
• 3/4 oz. (1½ tbs.) fresh lime juice
• 1 oz. (2 tbs.) fresh grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. (1 tbs.) sugar syrup
• 1 oz. (2 tbs.) dark rum
• 1 oz. (2 tbs.) golden rum
• 1 oz. (2 tbs) white rum
• 1 oz. (2 tbs) 151-proof rum
• 1-1/4 oz. (2½ tbs) spiced golden rum
• 3/4 oz. (1½ tbs.) Cherry Heering
• 1/2 oz. (1 tbs.) Falernum syrup
• 2 dashes (½ tsp.) Pernod or other anisette-flavored pastis
• 3 dashes (¾ tsp) Grenadine

Procedure Edit

Shake with 4 ice cubes, then pour into 1, 2, or 3 highball glasses that have been filled with crushed ice.

Ingredients Edit

• 1 oz. dark Jamaica rum
• 2 oz. gold label rum
• 1 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. apricot brandy
• 2 oz. papaya nectar
• 1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1 or 2 tsp. 151-proof rum
• green cherry (for garnish)
• pineapple stick (for garnish)
• red cherry (for garnish)
• mint sprig (for garnish)
• powdered sugar (for garnish)

Procedure Edit

Pour all ingredients, except the garnishes and 151-proof rum, into a cocktail shaker two-thirds filled with ice. Shake well; pour into a zombie glass (or hurricane glass), along with the ice from the shaker. Float a few teaspoons of 151-proof rum on the top of the drink. (You may wish to pour it over the back of a spoon, so it floats.) Put the green cherry, pineapple stick, and red cherry (in that order) on a toothpick, and set on the edge of the glass. Add the mint sprig. Sprinkle powdered sugar over everything. Add a straw and, if desired, a cocktail umbrella.

Be sure not to sip the Zombie through the straw at first. Otherwise, you will miss the pleasure of drinking the extra high-proof rum floating on the top!

As described in "Sippin' Safari" by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry.

Ingredients Edit

• 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz Don's Mix (see below)
• 1/2 oz falernum
• 1 1/2 oz Lowndes Jamaican rum (sub Appleton V/X)
• 1 1/2 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
• 1 oz 151-proof Demerara rum
• Dash Angostura bitters
• Dash Grenadine
• Dash Absinthe (sub Herbsaint or Pernod)
• 6 oz crushed ice

Procedure Edit

Put everything into a blender, saving ice for last. Blend at high speed for no more than 5 seconds. Pour into a chimney glass. Add ice to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Don's Mix: 2 parts grapefruit juice, 1 part cinnamon-infused sugar syrup

Zombie recipe

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and the following drinks, with similar ingredients.

Zombie cocktail

THIS PAGE MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE.

The Zombie was invented by Donn Beach, of Hollywood’s Don the Beachcomber restaurants, in the late 1930s. This vintage cocktail is called Zombie because that’s what it can turn its drinker into.

It’s a high-octane cocktail full of delicious fruit juices that make you feel like you’re downing sophisticated candy. But that deliciousness hides quite a lot of liquor. There are several variations on this cocktail. This version is more or less the classic.

• 1 ounce white rum
• 1 ounce golden rum
• 1 ounce dark rum
• 1 ounce apricot brandy
• 1 ounce pineapple juice
• 1 ounce papaya juice
• ½ ounce 151-proof rum
• Dash of grenadine

Shake all the ingredients except for the 151-proof rum together in a shaker. Pour the mixture into a glass (this one just calls out for a funky-shaped glass). Pour the 151-proof rum on the top of the drink. You can definitely light your Zombie on fire at this point if you want. Garnish with a cherry, a slice of pineapple, an orange slice, all of the above, or pretty much whatever fruit you feel like.

Other recipes for the Zombie vary the ingredients ratios, but also include or replace ingredients others, such as:

You’re encouraged to tinker with your Zombie recipe and find precisely what you like.

Zombie

As the story goes, Ernest Beaumont-Gantt created this potent drink in the 1930s and named it for its mind-altering effect after a friend consumed three of them. This lower-proof version is made with Velvet Falernum, an almond-and-lime-flavored liqueur that's a key ingredient in many tiki drinks. More Rum Drinks

Ingredients

• Ice
• 1 1/2 ounces amber rum
• 1/2 ounce dark rum
• 1/2 ounce 151-proof rum
• 3/4 ounce fresh pineapple juice
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ounce Velvet Falernum
• 1/2 ounce brown sugar simple syrup (brown sugar dissolved in equal part simmering water and cooled)
• Mint sprig, for garnish

How to Make It

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the liquids and stir well. Strain into an ice-filled tiki mug. Garnish with the mint.

Buy the ingredients on Drizly and have them delivered in under an hour. Find out if they operate near you.

How to Make a Zombie

You'll need four kinds of rum and a killer hangover cure.

The Zombie is the mother of all freak drinks. It hearkens back to the late '30s, when Hollywood restaurateur Don the Beachcomber supposedly cooked it up as liquid CPR for some poor SOB experiencing death by hangover. In any case, it caught on, especially at the Hurricane Bar at the 1939 New York World's Fair. By the time tiki culture hit its stride, the Zombie, with all its evil, no-more-than-two-to-a-customer charm, was ubiquitous. Unfortunately, that didn't mean it was any good. In fact, it's not. But no matter—sometimes the urge will strike anyway. We can respect that.

If you feel so inclined to make one at home, stock up on rum, fruit juice, and straws. A stretcher wouldn't hurt, either.

Zombie drink recipes

Blend all ingredients with ice except Bacardi 151 proof rum. Pour into a collins glass. Float Bacardi 151 proof rum on top. Garnish with a fruit slice, sprig of mint and a cherry.

Shake all ingredients (except 151 proof rum) with ice and strain into a collins glass over ice cubes. Float the 151 proof rum on top, add a cherry (if desired), and serve.

Shake over ice in a shaker, and strain into a large highball glass over crushed ice.

Shake all ingredients (except the high-proof rum) over ice, the pineapple stick and the sugar. Strain and add ice. Garnish with pineapple and a cherry. Float the high-proof rum on top and sprinkle a little sugar over it.

Strain ingredients into collins glass filled with ice. Top with 151 Proof Rum.

How to Make a Zombie

Until the Mai Tai came along, the Zombie was the world’s most famous faux-tropical drink. It kick-started the whole Tiki craze, and put Don The Beachcomber’s on the map. Donn Beach kept his original 1934 recipe a closely guarded secret — to the point of encoding it. The code numbers corresponded to numbers on bottles in his bar, which had no other identification; the actual contents of the bottles were a complete mystery to the employees who mixed them.

This foiled rival restaurateurs who tried to steal Donn’s drinks by hiring away his bartenders — and forced competing Tiki bars to improvise their own versions of the Zombie, usually long on booze and short on inspiration. Because Donn never revealed his recipe to anyone other than his most trusted staff, over time these inferior Zombie knock-offs became the norm. That’s why when you order a Zombie today, you get the cocktail equivalent of pot luck: whatever juices and syrups happen to be behind the bar that night, spiked with an equally indiscriminate mix of cheap rums. Not even a binge-drinking frat boy would risk his fake I.D. on the result.

In 1994 the Beachbum began a quest to track down Donn’s original Zombie recipe. Ten years and several blind alleys later, he was still none the wiser. But then the gods finally took pity on him. In 2005 their messenger, in the form of Jennifer Santiago, appeared with the drink recipe notebook that her father Dick had kept in a shirt pocket during his 15 years at Don The Beachcomber’s. (See Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari for Dick’s life story, as well as a ten page chapter about the Zombie.) Several of the notebook’s recipes had been re-worked, re-named, or cut altogether from the Beachcomber’s menu by 1940 — proving that Dick’s notebook dated from the 1930s, possibly 1937, the year he was hired. Which meant that the notebook’s Zombie could very well be the original 1934 version.

How so? For one thing, Dick had marked the recipe “old.” It need only be a mere toddler to have been born in 1934. So here, in all likelihood, was the Big Bang of the Polynesian restaurant craze … the drink that launched a thousand Tiki bars … the Holy Grail … the Golden Fleece … the first Zombie. We were happier than Louis Leakey unearthing Homo habilis in the Olduvai Gorge. Until we tried to make the recipe. Because another thing that pointed to its authenticity was — you guessed it — it was in code. Not all of it, just one inscrutable ingredient: a measly half-ounce of “Don’s Mix.”

O cruel Fate! But there, on the last page of the notebook, scribbled in Dick’s own hand, was a recipe for “New Don’s Mix”: two parts grapefruit juice to one part … “Spices #4″? Another code name!

Bowed but not broken, the Bum asked Mike Buhen of the venerable Tiki-Ti bar if he’d ever heard of Spices #4. Since Mike’s dad Ray was one of the original Beachcomber’s bartenders in 1934, if anyone knew, Mike would. “Ray would go to the Astra Company out in Inglewood to pick up #2 and #4,” Mike told the Bum. “A chemist would open a safe, take out the ingredients, and twirl some knobs in a big mixing machine, filling up a case while Ray waited. Then they’d close up the secret stuff in the safe. Ray took the bottles — marked only #2 and #4 — back to Don The Beachcomber’s.” All well and good, but what did #4 taste like? “I have no idea,” Mike shrugged. “Astra was owned by a guy named John Lancaster, who died of cancer in the вЂ˜60s. The company’s long-gone.”

And so the original Zombie Punch recipe sat, Sphinx-like, the solution to its riddle so close we could almost, well, taste it. Months went by. A year went by. And then the Bum made the acquaintance of a veteran Tiki bartender named Bob Esmino. Did he know what #4 was? “Oh, sure, from John’s old company,” chuckled Bob, who hadn’t thought about the stuff in 40 years. “It was a cinnamon syrup.”

Huzzah! Armed with this last piece of the liquid puzzle, we finally mixed a 1934 Don The Beachcomber’s Zombie Punch. And now you can too.

To make one, combine 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice, 1/2 ounce falernum, 1 1/2 ounces each gold Puerto Rican rum and gold or dark Jamaican rum, 1 ounce 151-proof Lemon Hart Demerara rum, 1 teaspoon grenadine, 6 drops Pernod, a dash of Angostura bitters, and 1/2 ounce Don’s mix (2 parts grapefruit juice to 1 part cinnamon-infused sugar syrup; see Sippin’ Safari or Beachbum Berry Remixed, or our Total Tiki app for syrup recipe). Put this mix in an electric blender with 6 ounces (3/4 cup) crushed ice, then blend at high speed for no more than 5 seconds. Pour into a Beachbum Berry Zombie Glass (pictured) or other tall Glass. Add ice cubes to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Donn called his signature drink “a mender of broken dreams.” We think you’ll agree. But proceed with care: Donn himself would serve no more than two to a customer.

Zombie cocktail

• 30ml light rum
• 30ml dark or Jamaican rum
• 30ml apricot brandy
• 30ml lime juice
• 2 dashes grenadine
• Ice
• Orange juice
• 30ml Bacardi 151 rum
• Maraschino cherries
• 4 orange slices

2) Mix the light and dark rum and brandy in a cocktail shaker, then add the lime juice and grenadine. Shake well and strain into four highball glasses filled with cracked ice.

3) Fill each glass with orange juice but leave enough room to float the 151 on top. Garnish each glass with a cherry and orange slice.

Zombie Cocktail

Ingredients

• 1 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. dark or Jamaican rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 2 dashes grenadine
• Orange juice
• 1 oz. Bacardi 151 rum

Directions

Mix light and dark rum and brandy in a cocktail shaker, add lime juice and grenadine. Shake well and strain into a higball glass filled with cracked ice. Fill glass with orange juice but leave enough room to float the 151 on top. Garnish with a cherry and orange slice.

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