Zombie

Zombie is a popular tiki cocktail made with five different types of rum.

Rich and sweet, fruity and tangy.

“Being a tiki drink, it’s all about tropical fruits and a lot of sweetness. Pineapple, passion fruit, cinnamon and a whole lotta rum, balanced out by sour lime – you’re not gonna get a better tiki drink,” shares Rico.

“It’s a notorious drink – infamous, one might say. It came around in the 1930s [1934, specifically – Ed] at a restaurant in Hollywood,” shares Rico.

• Fresh juice only!
  Grab some oranges and limes and a nice ripe pineapple and juice away! As we always say, great tasting drinks are all about fresh ingredients and fresh fruit juice.

  Yeah, we know, it’s tempting to buy the ready-made juice from a supermarket. But don’t. To make your pineapple juice, we recommend using a centrifugal juicer (but a blender works well too), while a citrus elbow is perfect for juicing your limes and oranges.

  Check out our article on how to juice your fruits.

• Fluffy pineapple juice
  You’ll see in the video, Rico uses a centrifugal juicer to make his pineapple juice. This gives the drink a super creamy and fluffy texture, which will also give your drink a nice head on top, not to mention the wonderful soft mouthfeel.
• Choose a sweet pineapple
  Before you start juicing your pineapple, you need to choose the right one! Pineapple juice is key to almost every tiki drink and that’s certainly the case for a Zombie.

  Select a pineapple that’s golden-yellow. Give it a gentle squeeze – if it’s slightly soft and smells sweet, then chances are it’s the right one for your Zombie cocktail! Nothing beats the taste of sweet pineapple juice.

• Shake just enough until it’s cold
  “We don’t have to give it that hard a shake as it has so much juice in it. It’s already very diluted, so all we really need to do is get this nice and cold,” advises Rico.

Almost every bartender has their own twist on a Zombie cocktail, experimenting with various flavored syrups, adding passion fruit, and using different rums. Here’s one of our favorite variations from our own Rico:

• Rico’s twist on a Zombie Cocktail
  In the video, you’ll see Rico does his own twist on a Zombie cocktail, which is a slightly simplified version, including just one type of rum. To make Rico’s Zombie cocktail, mix the following:

1. Pour 45 ml (approx. 1.75 parts) of dark rum into a shaker.
2. Add 100 ml (4 parts) of pineapple juice to the shaker.
3. Include 25 ml (1 part) of lime juice.
4. Add 25 ml (1 part) of cinnamon syrup to the mix.
5. Add 2 dashes of Absinthe for a hint of complexity.
6. Hollow out half a passion fruit using a spoon and empty it into the cocktail shaker.
7. Fill the shaker with ice and shake until the mixture is well chilled.
8. Use a Hawthorne strainer to strain the cocktail into your glass.
9. Garnish with a pineapple wedge for a true tiki finish.

If you love a Zombie, you gotta try Rico’s version!

• We recommend serving all tiki drinks in a Tiki mug. They look great and they’re also the perfect size to accommodate all that drink.
  
  Don’t have a tiki mug? No stress – a highball glass or a Collins work great too.

• Being that the Zombie is a tiki cocktail, garnishing your drink with a pineapple wedge is a must!

• Another popular garnish for the Zombie is a mint sprig.