The Great Palm Springs Zombie Taste-Off!

More fun pictures after way too many zombies

As proof that the zombies work, a usually reasonable man stated that a well-known conservative woman was really a Satanist.

Ain't anybody building Tiki Bars in PS?

Tiki Bars in Palm Springs - Palm Springs is in essence already a tiki bar in and of itself. An artificial sub-tropical paradise full of beautiful women and ....

Dear Bum:

Well my friend, the results are in and I have to admit, I am surprised.

We had our Zombie tasting party this last Monday - 5 judges, all initially sober. The four Zombies were in order of drinking and consuming completely;

The 1934 version of the Anonymous Zombie;

Spievak's Zombie;

Santiago's Zombie;

Men's Caberet Zombie;

The ingredients used were as exactly as prescribed except for the first zombie and there we substituted Apricot Brandy for Apple Jack and we rounded off the ingredients to the nearest ounce.

Our conclusion in terms of taste and satisfaction - It was a tie between the first two Zombies.

And while the alcohol might be suspected in explaining why the last two zombies failed to take the lead, I though our judges had some outstanding and thoughtful statements as to why this wasn't the case.

To begin with, we took our time - almost 4.5 hours, and we had lots of food. But most importantly, the first zombie was vibrant, balanced, and very much a well-blended and colorful palate of nicely complimentary flavors. We used quality rums and freshly picked and squeezed juices. More to the point, rounding the parts to the nearest ounce and using 0.5 oz of simple syrup instead of sugar always as well as the apricot brandy instead of AppleJack always seems to make a great drink. I have to admit, I forgot to add 1/2 oz of 151 at the end.

Spievak's Zombie provoked lots of oooo's and aaaaah's from the judges. Everyone was taken with the extreme balance of flavors as well as the gift of flavor provided by the lemon juice. Again, quality rums and juices were used. Personally, the judges seemed to me to be unable or unwilling to prefer either of the first two recipes over each other. Both drinks kicked.

Now here's the surprise. Everyone liked and enjoyed Santiago's Zombie. No complaints, just simply no wow's either. I believe complex is the word that comes to mind.

But the Men's Caberet Zombie simply sucked. And the reason for this was the Maraschino Liqueur. I was very careful to make sure the pours were correctly measured, but for the life of me, the Maraschino liqueur simply ruined the drink. I purchased my Maraschino liqueur from Bristol Farms, the LUXARDO brand. No one cared for what it did to the Zombie. We simply all agreed that it ruined it. Just as we were about to drink the Caberet Zombie, my wife showed up and asked for a drink. Now up to this point she had drunk nothing. I watched her as we all drank the Zombie and she really grimaced as she tried to finish it. I'm telling you, that recipe might need to be thought of as not being canon.

I'm going to make the latter recipe again for myself and give it another try, but after sipping some of the Maraschino liqueur by itself, I don't believe much will change. But I have an open mind.

I want to thank you personally for your support in this project as well as recognizing your efforts to bring awareness and appreciation of the zombie to a new generation.

Who knows what our next project will be? Perhaps the Suffering Bastard or even the Mai Tai.

Until then,

Your Zombiefied Doctor

Well, well.

I remade the men's caberet zombie, only this time I was fully sober and I carefully, carefully measured the ingredients. I wondered I as remade the zombie, did I use one and a half ounces of maraschino liquerur per drink instead of 3/4ths of and ounce? Hmmmm? Maybe I might have.

The Caberet Zombie at the time tasted way too much of Maraschino liqureur, but after remaking the zombie ever so carefully, I now have noticed that it is indeed pleasant drink. It is indeed a river of wonderful taste. However, the river didn't erode my previous feelings about which of the zombies was indeed the winner. Ultimately, my bet is on the version of the Grog Log Zombie presented here or Spievak's Zombie. While I still am a fan of the Santiago Zombie, when I make one for my friends next time, I won't be using Don's recipe.

And this makes me sad. On so many levels. It's not right.

In defense of the "Don" - after assembling all the ingredients for the Santiago recipe (this took awhile - the Falernum and a proper Grenadine were not easy to come by - and I made my "Don's Mix" with Demerara sugar, per the Bum!) - subbing Cruzan for the "Puerto Rican Rum" as the Bum suggests I came up with an okay drink - as the judges attest (I'm using Herbsaint, btw, not absinthe) - but then I tried it again using Pyrate in place of Cruzan and it's a whole different deal! Wow! It was truly a revelation! I'm thinking Puerto Rican Rum back in the day was a much better product than we have today! Next time I wnt to try it with Ron Zacara.

I'm going to try the Spievak recipe as soon as I score some decent Passion Fruit Pulp.

sounds like you guys will soon need a Voodoo Vacation on Zombie Island!?!?
Tiki Oasis 8, August 14-17, 2008, San Diego is Zombie themed!
You should attend and re-enact your Zombie taste test. Or have a Zombie-off drink making contest where different rooms/groups of guests take different recipes and attempt to win the Zombie taste test contest . . . mmmmm.

Just a thought!

Otto:

What a fantastic idea!

Although the tiki culture is full of a rich tradition of many fine drinks and traditions, there are some who migh say that the Zombie is our "White Whale!" To me, the Zombie is about "getting it right!"

There are many fine and wonderful Zombie recipes, all of which need to be tested and "drunk". A Zombie bar crawl would give new meaning to the word crawl.

I'll be there with friends in tow.

On 2007-11-10 00:14, Kahuna Kent wrote:

I'm going to try the Spievak recipe as soon as I score some decent Passion Fruit Pulp.

Kahuna Kent, your right about being particular about the rums you use when working from a Don the Beachcomber recipe. It matters.

I used TV Passion Fruit Syrup in my Spievak and it came out simply great. Of course my bottle was old formula. One thing I do differently, I use fresh Key Lime juice from Key Limes that have ripened to a nice yellow skin. Good luck with the Spievak. I hope you report back your findings.

I love Otto's idea! I'm starting now to perfect the recipe (but these things are dangerous - I'm still recovering from too much "research" I did this weekend - I've gotta pace myself!)

Telescopes: What's the difference between a Lime and a "Key Lime"?

Most people use the large Persian Limes that are green. Persian limes are a cultivated lime that provide lots of juice; however, the key lime is the real prize. Usually small, most supermarkets sell them when they are green and unripe. Key limes are ripe when the skin is yellow - but most people won't buy them because they associate ripe limes with Persian Limes which are ripe when green.

But the real difference is in the flavor. Ripe Key Limes are explosive with the lime flavor and meld extremely well with other flavors, therefore when put into exotic drinks, they enhance the flavors around them rather than compete with them.

You can buy key limes in most supermarkets, but put them on a window sill and let them turn yellow before you use them. They be juicier and much more flavorful.

I am fortunate that my Key Lime provides me with limes almost year round.

Good luck.

By the way, here is my own variation of the Anonymous 1934 Grog Log Zombie. It to uses Passion Fruit Syrup.

Douglas Sexton’s
Zombie Alternative

1 oz. Key Lime
1 oz. Pineapple
1 oz. Passion Fruit Syrup
1 Tbs. Simple Syrup
1 Tbs. Apricot Brandy
1 oz. Light Rum (Cuban, if on hand)
2 oz. Gold Rum (Barbados)
1 oz. Jamaican Dark Rum used as a float.
1 splash of Lemon Hart 151.

Garnish with mint, a ½ lime shell, pineapple and cherry. Add the 151 to the half lime shell and ignite. Dim the lights. Your soon to be a Zombie.

This is the Zombie I created, a modification of one of many supposed originals. I altered it by rounding out the proportions for easy measuring as well as adjusting the types of rums used. Although there are many similar recipes to this one, I can guarantee that this one will not disappoint.

[ Edited by: telescopes 2007-11-12 22:24 ]

Hi, Telescopes:

I tried the Spievak recipe. Don't have the TV Passion fruit syrup, so I made some with Goya frozen pulp I got at Vallarta market. The Passion fruit flavor seemed to overwhelm the others. This is definitely a "fruitier" Zombie than the Santiago recipe. I'll definitly drink this again - but next time I'll cut back to maybe 3/4 shot of Passsion Fruit syrup. (TV old recipe is 11% juice, according to the Bum, so making it with 50% pulp is much stronger)

I plan to attend Tiki Oasis in August, so looking forward to comparing tastes!

PS: Haven't found a source for the "key limes" - Whole Foods has "Organic Limes" which are good, but not the same. I'll check the farmer's market this weekend. Having a tree is definitely the way to go!

I recently made a chart where I compared the ingredients of four Don the Beachcomber recipes for Zombies. They include the 1934 Zombie Punch and 1956 Zombie, both from “Sippin’ Safari,” as well as the Zombie recipe in the book “Hawaiian Tropical Drinks by Don the Beachcomber” and a 1938 article in the Winnipeg Free Press.

I’ve been wondering about the Zombie recipe that appeared in Cabaret Magazine in 1956, which is quoted in “Sippin’ Safari.” It seems odd to me that Donn Beach would be so secretive about his recipes, and then simply allow a magazine to publish the recipe for his signature cocktail. I wonder if he didn’t both simplify and make a couple of changes so that people could make a Zombie, but it would never taste quite as good as the one they got at Don the Beachcomber.

The 1956 recipe differs from the 1934 recipe in four areas: It substitutes grapefruit juice for Don’s Mix, cuts down on the amount of rum, and adds pineapple juice and maraschino liqueur. The “Hawaiian Tropical Drinks” recipe is very close to the 1956 recipe, but omits pineapple juice, and adds simple syrup, and light Puerto Rican and Guatemala rums.

The 1938 Winnipeg article obviously does not include all the ingredients of the drink, however it lists four different rums: Dark Jamaican, Gold Puerto Rican, Demerara 151, and, intriguingly, Guadalupe rum. I wonder if the authors of “Hawaiian Tropical Drinks” misread a recipe that called for Guadalupe rum, and mistakenly included Guatemala rum instead.

So I have a theory: Perhaps for the 1956 recipe, Donn Beach left out a rum, included grapefruit juice rather than breaking down the ingredients of Don’s Mix, and then added pineapple juice because a lot of people expect it in tropical drinks. So trying to read between the lines, I wonder if a Zombie recipe closer to Don the Beachcomber’s version (post Zombie Punch era) might be the following:

3/4 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz Don’s Mix
1/2 oz Falernum
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 1/4 oz Gold Puerto Rican Rum
1 oz Demerara Rum 151
1 oz Guadalupe (or Martinique) Rum
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
6 drops Pernod
1/4 oz Grenadine
3/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur

I haven’t tried this yet as I do not currently have all the ingredients. Plus I recently moved and don’t have my bar set up yet. But if anyone out there does have these ingredients and is willing to experiment, I’d be very much interested in the results.