zombie

1 1/2 oz Myers's Dark Rum
1 1/2 oz Ron Pampero Aniversario
1 oz Lemon Hart Demerara 151 Proof Rum
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
6 drops Kubler Absinthe
1 tsp Grenadine
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and serve in a stemmed tumbler with cracked ice. Garnish elaborately with mint.

For my last cocktail at Drink, Misty suggested that she was in the mood to make another Zombie especially after two gentlemen were in the bar earlier sporting Hawaiian shirts and had requested them. One part of me was curious to see which recipe she would use (and how it would compare to the one Kit made for Andrea at Eastern Standard a few weeks ago) and one part of me did not want to turn down an offer for a multi-ingredient drink.
Misty's recipe came from Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari which lists the recipe as stemming from the Zombie Punch (1934) as written down by the Don the Beachcomber's waiter Dick Santiago (this New York Times article provides some of the history on this). The drink itself was sweet but balanced with complex notes coming in from the absinthe, falernum, and cinnamon syrup. Very spicy, very sweet, very tiki. Doing the math on the liquor in the drink (which surprisingly does not taste of alcohol at all), made me realize why Donn Beach limited this drink to two per customer... [1] A very different drink than the Zombie I had at a Halloween party my freshman year at college. That Zombie contained rums, pineapple juice, apricot flavored brandy, and quite a kick; however, it was sweetness minus the complex spice flavors of Beach's recipe. Then again, I am not sure how much the average 18-22 year old would have appreciated anise seed overtones in their drink.

[1] The "Bringing the Thunder" sweatbands, even though swag sporting a wine reference, were rather appropriate for both the drink and the theme of "Sweatband Sunday".