Recipe
by Martin Cate
- 1.5oz aged rum (I used El Dorado 8)
- 1oz dark overproof rum (Hamilton 151)
- .5oz fresh grapefruit juice
- .5oz fresh lime juice
- .5oz falernum (John D Taylor)
- .5oz cinnamon syrup
- Dash of Angostura bitters
- Dash of absinthe
Shake all ingredients with crushed ice until it’s ice ice cold. Double strain (using an extra mesh strainer) into a stemmed glass.
About
Sooo…in continuation of tiki drinks for #TikiTheSnowAway, we have this deceptively elegant drink. It may look poised and elegant, but man is this a BEAST. With the equivalent of over 3oz of liquor, this is somehow extremeeeely drinkable and seriously dangerous. This is the Undead Gentleman, a riff of the Zombie created by Martin Cate from Smuggler’s Cove. Appearance-wise, it ain’t as wild and untamed as the Zombie (usually served over crushed ice in a highball glass), but instead is served up on stemmed glassware so you can pretend like you’re fancy while getting trashed.
The Zombie is a classic tiki drink that was created in the 30s by Donn Beach (Don the Beachcomber) that was the trademark cocktail that helped catapult him to fame. Most versions of “Zombies” you’ll find nowadays are no where close to the original. In popular culture, the Zombie has become the tropical version of the AMF or Long Island Iced Tea, completely doing injustice to the genius of the original recipe, which is potent but not just overrun with random syrups and fruit juices. Rather, the use of falernum (clove/lime zest liqueur), cinnamon syrup, absinthe, and bitters really adds amazing spice and herbal complexity to balance out the drink.