Zombie — Potent tiki cocktail with multiple rums and bitters

Zombie

Potent tiki cocktail with multiple rums and bitters

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 3/4 ozFresh Lime Juice
    Fresh squeezed
    Substitute: Key lime
  • 1 ozFresh Grapefruit Juice
    Fresh squeezed
    Substitute: Pink grapefruit
  • 1 dashAngostura Aromatic Bitters
    Traditional spice
    Substitute: Essential
  • 1/2 ozFalernum
    Spiced liqueur
    Substitute: Velvet Falernum
  • 6 dropsAbsinthe
    Aromatic bitter component
    Substitute: Herbsaint acceptable
  • 1 1/2 ozJamaican Dark Rum
    Full-bodied Jamaican rum
    Substitute: Appleton Estate Reserve
  • 1 1/2 ozPuerto Rican Gold Rum
    Light gold rum
    Substitute: Don Q Gold
  • 1 ozDemerara Rum (151 proof)
    High-proof Demerara
    Substitute: Lemon Hart 151
  • 1/2 ozCinnamon Syrup
    Cinnamon-infused simple syrup
    Substitute: Rich simple + cinnamon stick
  • 1/2 ozGrenadine
    Real pomegranate grenadine
    Substitute: Homemade preferred

Instructions

  1. Add 1 1/2 oz Jamaican dark rum, 1 1/2 oz Puerto Rican gold rum, 1 oz Demerara 151 rum to shaker
  2. Add 3/4 oz fresh lime juice, 1 oz fresh grapefruit juice, 1/2 oz cinnamon syrup, 1/2 oz grenadine, and 1/2 oz falernum
  3. Add 1 dash Angostura bitters and 6 drops absinthe
  4. Fill with ice and shake vigorously
  5. Strain into tiki mug filled with crushed ice
  6. Garnish elaborately with mint sprigs, pineapple wedge, and cherry on long pick

Technique Notes

Fill the mug with crushed ice before straining. With this much rum the ice is doing structural work, and there is no recovering an under-iced Zombie.

Why the Zombie Works

Tiki-era density is the point: three rums, three sweeteners in grenadine, cinnamon syrup and falernum, and two acids in lime and grapefruit. Absinthe drops and Angostura supply the aromatic complexity that stops the whole thing reading as juice, and the result is layered rather than busy.

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