The White Zombie
Well, I’ve had this idea kicking around for a while and, yay, tho’ I am not by any means a popular drinks blogger (yet), I’ve seen my original recipe making the rounds. After some talk about it at the Rum Renaissance, the RumDood and I thought the time had come to release my official version of The White Zombie. First, allow me to explain its origins.
I think we all know about the Zombie—the drink that spawned Tiki itself, so they say—and we know that it has a considerable amount of alcohol in (almost) all of its incarnations.
Well, I lamented to myself one November evening, despite it being a very good drink, it does not seem to fit the holiday season. Some might argue the fact that there is no inappropriate time or season for a Zombie, and they’d be right, but I had visions of traditional holiday creamy drinks dancing in my head when, suddenly, inspiration struck. I knew what had to be done.
Seeing as I had the Rum Guide’s entire collection at hand, I dug up all the rum cream we had and compared notes. My basic idea of the Zombie—keep in mind, this is before I found the Beachbum’s well researched version—was that it had four or five rums and a fruity flavor. So, casting aside the fruitiness, I went full on for the basic zombie-effect, while retaining the idea of a creamy, milkshake-type-thing. With a little experimenting and correspondence with Rum Dood I’ve come up with this, my final, ideal recipe:
The White Zombie
- 4 oz Crisma Rum Cream
- 1 ½ oz Cruzan Black Strap
- 1 ½ oz Barbancourt Réserve Spéciale (5 star)
- 1 ½ oz Foursquare Spiced Rum
- ¼ oz Sunset Very Strong Rum (169 proof)
Shake the life out of it in your standard ice filled shaker til’ your hands go as cold as the walking dead. Fill your favorite glass ¾ with crushed ice and pour this monster into it. Garnish with nutmeg and/or cinnamon for aroma. Yell “BEVARE” in your best Hungarian accent and a give a hearty, evil laugh.
The name occurred to me as the only appropriate thing possible, seeing as White Zombie was the first zombie movie ever, starring the infamous Bela Lugosi, in 1932. What greater honor could I bestow upon such a strange genre of zombie?
So, there you have it. The horror of The White Zombie!
But I’m not done, yet, folks. In fact, I may just be more than a little obsessed with Zombies and I have a few more creations up my sleeves that I’m going to be posting soon, complete with beautiful photography. Keep an eye out for more of the living dead here on the Cane Spirit Guide within the week. Brought to you by GiftedRums.com!
.
I’d like to thank Rum Dood for giving me the swift kick in the ass to finish this drink and post it, Tiare for creating her own beautiful version of it and spreading the gospel, Beachbum Berry for (re)discovering the One True Zombie, Dale DeGroff for encouraging me on my zombie hunt, Paul McFayden, Been Reed and especially Rikki Broderick for sharing their zombie recipes with me, Rich Hunt who indulged me in zombifying Mahiki, Adam Delgiudice at The Florida Room for further zombie tinkering, and of course, my father, without whom, none of this would have been possible. There’s so many more of you out there who have inspired me and shared with me; I thank you profusely and look forward to seeing you all online and at Tales of The Cocktail. Thanks and stay tuned!
