Zombie Cocktail Recipe

The Zombie, a potent mixture of three types of rum, lime juice, Don’s Mix No. 2, falernum, grenadine, absinthe, and bitters, is considered by many to be the ultimate tropical cocktail. This drink was invented by legendary barman Donn Beach in the 1930s. His Hollywood bar, Don the Beachcomber, is credited with providing the blueprint for the mid-20th century’s kitschy tropical cocktail movement. Beach is credited with creating many tropical classics like the Three Dots and a Dash and the Cobra’s Fang.

The story goes that Beach first mixed the Zombie for a hungover businessman who needed a “hair of the dog” before a meeting. What the man got instead was an easy-to-sip, but extra-boozy cocktail. When the man later complained that he’d gone to his meeting “feeling like the living dead,” Beach supposedly grinned and christened his new creation the Zombie. Whether it happened exactly that way hardly matters; what counts is how neatly the tale captures the drink’s spirit. Adding to the drink’s infamy, Beach instituted a two-drink limit on the dangerously potent Zombie, which had the effect of daring his guests to try it.

During this era, many tropical bartenders kept their signature recipes closely guarded. To prevent their bartenders from taking the recipes with them when they left, Don the Beachcomber pre-batched syrups and gave them numerical values. The bartenders knew the correct portions to mix, but had no idea what was actually in the bottle. The original Zombie called for Don’s Mix No. 2, a syrup with a recipe that was completely unknown until tropical cocktail historian, bar owner, and author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry discovered it was a mix of cinnamon syrup and fresh grapefruit juice.

Why the Zombie works

As is typical of Donn Beach’s originals, the Zombie has a long list of ingredients that, at first glance, might appear quite unwieldy. The genius of Beach’s creations is that they’re all built on the sour, cocktail history’s most reliable template.

Where the classic sour combines spirit, citrus juice, and sugar, Beach adds a deep richness and complexity by using multiple styles of each core component in the Zombie. Starting with the rum, Beach combined a punchy, funky Jamaican rum with a softer, slightly aged rum from Puerto Rico, and a rich, caramel-like 151-proof demerara rum, creating a potent mixture that stands up to the other strong flavors in the Zombie.

For the citrus component, Beach stuck with lime juice. Don’s Mix also contains grapefruit juice, which provides a slight bitterness that helps balance both the heavy rums and many sweeteners.

The Zombie utilizes three sweetening ingredients: the rum-based spiced liqueur falernum, rich grenadine, and Don’s Mix, which is a mixture of grapefruit juice and cinnamon syrup. The result is a complex, rich profile with a decent amount of tropical spice. The notes of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg are amplified by the addition of Angostura bitters, and a few drops of absinthe add a subtle presence of anise.

The resulting drink is balanced, boozy, and complex while still being a refreshing sip. This specific recipe comes from Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and remains true to the original 1930s recipe. Without his efforts, modern bartenders might not be able to recreate this fruity, spicy, rum-heavy classic.