Recipe
1934 Zombie
- 1.5oz gold rum
- 1.5oz gold or dark Jamaican rum
- 1oz demerara overproof rum (Hamilton or Lemon Hart 151)
- .75oz lime juice
- .25oz grapefruit juice
- 1tsp grenadine
- .25oz cinnamon syrup
- .5oz falernum
- Dash of Angostura bitters
- Dash of absinthe
Quickly mix all ingredients in a blender or shake with crushed ice. Empty all into a tall glass. Drink slowly.
Find the original Beachbum Berry recipe here.
About
It’s Tiki Tuesday so what better drink to revisit than the classic Zombie? Outside of the Mai Tai, this is probably the most recognized tiki drink in popular culture, well known for its potency. Some may think of it as the tropical version of a Long Island Iced Tea, but really it’s FAR from it!
Little bit of history: the Zombie was one of the original tiki drinks created by Don the Beachcomber (the grandfather of tiki) in 1934 at his SoCal establishment that kickstarted the tiki craze. He was extremely secretive about his recipes and even his bartenders didn’t know the ingredients (which had code names). Due to its wild success (further perpetuated by the restriction of 2/person due to its potency), there have been MANY (futile) attempts at replicating this drink by competitors…as such, Zombies really became a wildcard drink where almost anything was fair game so long as it had a ton of rum and fruit juices.
In recent years, historians have pieced together the original recipe so let’s just all give thanks. Today, unless you’ve been to a historically-accurate premier cocktail/tiki bar, chances are that the zombie you’ve enjoyed (or not enjoyed) is far from the original. Unfortunately most are just overly sweet and filled with bottled fruit juices, unnecessary added sugar, and whatever random rums are stocked by the bar (note: the original recipe has NO pineapple, grenadine, cranberry, or orange juices). This recipe is quite involved, but if interested, it’s definitely worth the effort and either way I HIGHLY recommend you find a quality tiki bar to seek out this drink. The true Zombie is absolutely delicious and indeed potent (3 standard drinks). Genius!