zombie president

1 1/2 oz Gold Puerto Rican Rum (Bacardi 4 Year) (*)
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/4 oz Grapefruit Liqueur (St. Elder)
1/8 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/4 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1/8 oz Grenadine
1 dash Angostura Bitters
6 drop Absinthe (Copper & Kings)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a mint leaf.
(*) To dry out the drink, splitting the volume with Puerto Rican 151 Proof Rum such as Don Q would work well here. See the final sentence below.

Two weeks ago, I was reading my advanced copy of Brian Hoefling's The Cocktail Seminars. I was impressed at how over the course of 5 sections and 30+ drinks per section, Brian was able to tie together interconnections and similarities between the earliest of cocktails to the most modern day ones. In the fourth section, he tackled tropical and Tiki drinks and explained why they work by linking them to more traditional mixed drinks. This inspired me to take the 1934 Zombie in a Rum Martini direction. I based my template off of the dry vermouth El Presidente instead of the blanc or sweet vermouth ones to help to balance the sugar content of the syrups and liqueurs. While I was able to replaced the grapefruit juice with a grapefruit liqueur, I skipped the lime aspect entirely. I also kept the rums to one (see the note about splitting it with a higher proof rum) to mimic the Presidente, and the Jamaican and Demerara rums of the Zombie were put on hold.I dubbed this one the Zombie President, and it began with a rum, fruity, and mint bouquet. Next, the sip showcased a rich mouth feel and a vague fruitiness, and the swallow set off with rum, cinnamon, grapefruit, berry, clove, and anise flavors. Overall, with the 80 proof rum, the balance was a touch on the sweet side, so if I were to make this again, I would replace 1/2 to 3/4 oz with a 151 proof rum like Don Q (to make a 103.7 to 115.5 proof rum blend).