cooper's zombie

3/4 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Myer's Dark Rum (Gosling's Black Seal)
3/4 oz Bacardi Superior Rum (Don Q Añejo)
3/4 oz Bacardi 8 Year Rum (Don Q Añejo)
3/4 oz Grapefruit-Cinnamon Syrup (BG Reynold's Don's Mix)
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 bsp Guava Reduction (1/4 oz melted Guava Jelly (heated 1:1 in water))

Shake with ice, strain into a tall glass (Tiki mug), float 4 dash Angostura Bitters, spritz with Pernod Absinthe, and garnish with an orange slice, mint sprig, pineapple leaf, and cherry (2 pineapple leaves, spent half lime shell, cherry).

After my bar shift two Mondays ago, I wanted to continue on with the Tiki the Snow Away month theme, and I chose to make a drink called the Cooper's Zombie that I spotted on OnTheBar. The recipe was posted by Tampa bartender Gabriel Camacho who credited Chuck Cooper. With guava in the mix, I wondered if it was the same Cooper associated with Trader Vic's 1946 Cooper's Ranch Punch. Instead, Chuck Cooper was one of Gabriel fellow bartenders in town. Cooper's Zombie varied from the classic 1934 Zombie by ditching the falernum and grenadine for pineapple and guava.
The Cooper's Zombie presented a spiced aroma of anise and cinnamon notes to the nose. Next, lime, guava, and pineapple mingled with a full mouthfeel from the guava jelly's pectin on the sip, and the swallow led off with funky rum and darker tropical flavors and ended with a cinnamon finish. Once the bitters float reached the straw, the balance shifted to drier and more clove-driven.