You’ll need to bring along a 10th level cleric to read this post.

The Zombie is a legendary Tiki drink created by Don the Beachcomber. It’s famous for both its potency and for the mystery of ingredients needed to make it. You see,Donn didn’t want folks getting their hands on his recipes,so he did everything in code. 2oz of rum bottle A,1oz of mix #2,etc. So the original recipe was lost in time. Then along comes Jeff “Beachbum” Berry,who decides to get all serious with Tiki drink research,and he presented the following recipe created from painstaking research:

Mix #21 Book of Tiki Zombie

2oz gold rum
1oz dark rum
1oz white rum
1oz lime juice
3/4oz papaya juice
3/4oz pineapple juice
½ apricot brandy
1tsp simple syrup

Shake it all together and pour into tall glass. Add a float of 151 Demerara rum and garnish with a green cherry,a pineapple stick,and a red cherry on a toothpick,then sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar over it.

This was published in Sven Kirsten’s book,The Book of Tiki,in a chapter Jeff wrote entitled “Mixologists and Concoctions”. As an aside,it was also printed in the booklet of the Ultra-Lounge CD Vol 1 Mondo Exotica:

which also includes a bad recipe for a Blue Hawaii(you’ve been warned). This was considered to be the Zombie recipe,until 2005 when Jeff received some new info. After a bunch more research,he came up with this updated version:

Mix #22 Remixed Zombie

1.5oz gold rum
1.5oz dark rum
1oz 151 Demerara rum
3/4oz lime juice
1/2oz Don’s mix *
1/2oz falernum
1tsp grenadine
6 drops absinthe
dash Angostura bitters
6oz crushed ice

Blend at high speed for 5 seconds. Pour into tall glass and add ice to fill.

*Don’s Mix is 2 parts white grapefruit juice to 1 part cinnamon syrup. I’ve used regular grapefruit juice and BG Reynolds syrup with good results.

As you can see they’re pretty different recipes. From what I’ve read,the Remixed is probably the correct one,but I prefer the BoT version because it’s sweeter. Either way,the Donn wouldn’t serve anyone more than two Zombies,and given the octane rating of these,I wouldn’t either. Pick the one you like best,or give them both a try. Just make sure you’re sitting down at home when you do it.

Ok class,now that we’ve covered the original Zombies,let’s take a look at some modern versions. The aforementioned Beachbum has gotten together with Hamilton Rum to create a special zombie blend(which I’ve used to make a seriously twisted Mai Tai) and a recipe that showcases it:

Mix #23 Hamilton-Beachbum Zombie

2oz Beachbum Berry’s Zombie Rum Blend
3/4oz lime juice
1/2oz white grapefruit juice
1/2oz cinnamon syrup
1/2oz falernum
1tsp grenadine
8 drops absinthe
dash Angostura bitters
6oz crushed ice

Blend for 5 seconds at high speed.

This is slightly less powerful than the originals,but don’t let that ‘only’ two ounces of rum fool you,this does pack a punch.

Ken Holewczynski(no I don’t know how to pronounce that) is the very cool dude who is behind the House of Tabu,creator of the Order of the Golden Fez,and publisher of the excellent Tiki magazine Exotica Moderne(so you should probably buy him a Mai Tai if you ever meet him). He came up with his own Zombie riff,from issue #17,the same one I was published in:

Mix #24 Zombo

2oz Beachbum Berry’s Zombie Rum Blend
1oz orange juice
1/2oz lime juice
1/2oz falernum
½ Demerara syrup
1 bottle Underberg

Shake everything except the Underberg with ice and pour into a tall glass. Top with more ice and insert bottle of Underberg into the glass upside down.

First,never drink Underberg straight,always mix it with something,trust me. This is an interesting drink,the falernum and Underberg really come forward. Very spice-y and bitter-y. I actually pulled the bottle out after a couple pulls because I found it a bit intense. I liked it,but it won’t appeal to the daiquiri/pina colada crowd.

BG Reynolds,maker of fine syrups,has also created a couple versions. Here are two from their site:

Mix #25 Atomic Zombie

2oz white rum
1oz Plantation OFTD rum
1oz lime juice
1oz lemon juice
1oz pineapple juice
1oz fassionola
1/2oz cinnamon syrup
dash Angostura bitters

Blend with 1.5 cups of ice.

A slightly sweeter Zombie with a good bit of kick.

Mix #26 Fassionola Zombie

1/2oz Demerara 151
1/2oz Demerara rum
1/2oz dark rum
1/2oz white rum
1oz fassionola
1/2oz lime juice
1/4oz Demerara syrup

Blend with 1.5 cups of ice.

Be careful with this one. It’s only got two ounces of rum,but a half ounce is 151. Combined with all that fassionola and you can have a recipe for a good hangover.

So put down your barb-wire-wrapped baseball bat,lash a walker to a treadmill to power your blender,and forget all your troubles with what Donn called “a mender of broken dreams”. Just remember the rules and stop at two,or you might be a zombie in the morning.