When thinking about Tiki drinks, there are many that immediately come to mind: the Mai Tai, the Planters’ Punch, the Painkiller, and so on and so forth. One of these is the Zombie cocktail, a drink that I like to think of as the “Long Island Iced Tea among all Tiki drinks”. Today, we are going to check it out.
What the hell is Tiki?
Generally speaking, Tiki is a style of fashion that became particularly popular during the 1950s and -60s. It lends itself to every culture found in the South Seas as well as in the Caribbean, from Jamaica to Hawaii and the Easter Islands. However, it is consciously non-authentic, i. e. not a serious representation of the original culture.
Of course we have to mention the famous story of the Zombie’s invention here. According to this, Donn Beach served it to a friend who had a severe hangover at his Hollywood bar. This friend then went on a flight to San Francisco and when he came back a few days later, he reported having felt “like a Zombie” on that flight. Supposedly, this is how the drink got its name.
On to the Zombie cocktail recipe…
The recipe we are using here is Donn Beach’s original 1934 recipe for the Zombie cocktail, among many that exist today. It is presented on the YouTube channel Mixing With The Geek in the following video:
Do not be scared by the long list of ingredients. We specify a full recipe including making your own grenadine and pomegranate molasses. Obviously, you can simplify the preparation significantly by using storebought pomegranate molasses or going with storebought grenadine right away. Of course, making the whole thing yourself is a lot (!) better 🙂
In case you do not have access to ready-made pomegranate molasses, you can make them yourself by simmering the pomegranate juice and sugar with the lemon juice until reduced to about a quarter of the initial volume.
Then you can go ahead and prepare your homemade grenadine. By simply combining all the ingredients, heating slightly and stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Making the cocktail is a bit complicated, as is common with many Tiki drinks, but just because there are so many ingredients. Simply combine all of them in a drink mixer and pulse a few times or - in case you do not have a drink mixer - shake and pour over crushed ice or whip shake with some crushed ice and enjoy.
Ingredients
Directions
In case you do not have access to ready-made pomegranate molasses, you can make them yourself by simmering the pomegranate juice and sugar with the lemon juice until reduced to about a quarter of the initial volume.
Then you can go ahead and prepare your homemade grenadine. By simply combining all the ingredients, heating slightly and stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Making the cocktail is a bit complicated, as is common with many Tiki drinks, but just because there are so many ingredients. Simply combine all of them in a drink mixer and pulse a few times or - in case you do not have a drink mixer - shake and pour over crushed ice or whip shake with some crushed ice and enjoy.
The legitimate King of Tiki
Now how does the original 1934 Zombie taste? Let me just say that it is awesome. Definitely very rum-forward, but really not that boozy, which is surprising considering the 90 ml of rum in this recipe. The lime makes the whole mix nicely sweet and sour, the Pernod and cinnamon syrup add some interesting spice notes, which come through mainly in the aftertaste.
On the flavor map, the basic flavor is a perfect sweet and sour balance, with a nice tartness from the rums. The cocktail is rather fruity than mineral and slightly herbaceous due to the use of Pernod and cinnamon. With prominent citrus notes, the Zombie is rather refreshing than heavy, but not too much due to the clear focus on the rums. As already mentioned, the anis and cinnamon give the drink a nice complexity.
