February 22, 2024
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Before the Mai Tai, there was the Zombie. Donn Beach, the founding father of tiki bars, created the world's most famous tropical drink and put Don the Beachcomber's on the map. Donn kept the recipe a secret, never so much as identifying the contents of the bottles poured into the drink. The mystery remained for the better part of a century until 2005, when Jennifer Santiago revealed the drink recipe had been hidden in her father's shirt pocket during the fifteen years he spent at Donn the Beachcomber's. Even then, some of the ingredients were clandestinely named "Spices #4" and "New Don's Mix." It was finally thanks to another veteran Tiki bartender, Bob Esmino, that the hidden ingredient was revealed: cinnamon syrup!
Today, the drink once lost to time has been fully unearthed.
What You Need:
Recipe:
- 0.75 oz. lime juice
- 0.25 oz. white grapefruit juice
- 0.25 oz. cinnamon syrup
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 6 drops of absinthe or Herbsaint
- 1 tablespoon grenadine
- 0.5 oz. falernum
- 1.5 oz. aged Jamaican rum, pot and column still blend
- We used a blend of 0.75 oz. Probitas White Blended Rum and 0.75 oz. Hampden HLCF Classic
- 1.5 oz. light bodied rum, column still
- We recommend Scarlet Ibis Trinidad Rum
- 1 oz. 151 proof Demerara rum
- We recommend Hamilton Overproof 151 Rum
- Optional: Use 4 oz. of Hamilton Beachbum Zombie Blend instead of the mix of rums above
Put all ingredients in a blender with roughly 6 oz. crushed ice and blend for no more than 5 seconds until mixed. If the consistency is like a slushie, it's been blended for too long. Pour into a tiki mug or Collins class and add ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.