I’ve got seven different Zombie recipes. Three of these recipes are from the creator, Don the Beachcomber. Over the decades, he tinkered with his creation as he tried to perfect it. Over the next three weeks, I’ll feature his three Zombie creations.
This first recipe was his original from 1934.
Ingredients
- ¾ oz fresh lime juice
- ½ oz Don’s mix
- ½ oz falernum or Falernum #9
- 1½ oz gold puerto rican rum
- 1½ oz gold jamaican rum or dark jamaican rum
- 1 oz 151-proof demerara rum
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 6 drops (⅛ tsp) Pernod (or absinthe)
- 1 tsp grenadine
- 6 oz (¾ cup) crushed ice
Steps
Put everything in a blender. Blend at high speed for no more than 5 seconds. Pour into a chimney glass. Add ice cubes to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Tasting Notes
This is a very rum forward drink, as you well may have determined by looking at the ingredients list.
Fresh out of the blender, it’s very strong and a little harsh. Once the ice melts a bit, the drink becomes a bit tamer and more of the flavor comes out. I can absolutely taste the falernum on the finish of this drink. It is a very distinct flavor.
Be careful with the bitters and the absinthe, you can really throw off the balance with these two ingredients. I would err on the side of caution. I had to make a few of these, (do you see what I put myself through for these cocktail posts?) varying the dosages to get the right balance.
This original version of the Zombie is pretty straight forward. It’s rum. A lot of it. All at once. There are no two ways about it, after a couple of these, you’re going to feel it.
This cocktail seemed a little rough. I’m looking forward to trying the other two “tweaks” that Don the Beachcomber made before I decide which is my favorite.
Source
Original drink by Don The Beachcomber, circa 1934. A lost recipe found by Beachbum Berry in the 1937 notebook of Beachcomber’s waiter Dick Santiago, who had marked the recipe “old.”
Jeff Berry. Beachbum Berryʼs Sippin’ Safari.