The Zombie

[Gillman]

I just wrote a long, detailed post about making the original, rum version and then trying to emulate or exceed it with a bourbon version.

By the time I completed the post, I got disconnected from the site and could not save it to re-post it.

So I will compress here what I said: it works really well with rums. I was not able to make, though, a good bourbon version. The bourbon was too forward in the drink and didn't work.

However I think it is doable to make a good bourbon version (but still use the traditional other Zombie ingredients: pineapple and orange juices; lime juice; dash apricot or other brandy; sugar). I don't have currently the right ingredients, but it might work with, say, a mild bourbon (VG?) and/or Bernheim Wheat and/or an American blended whiskey for the spirit base. I still think Stagg, or any other high proof bourbon (RB?), would work well for the float.

I will try again (later ).

Any comments are appreciated.

Gary

[ratcheer]

I used to know people who ordered Zombies, but I was not one of them.

Tim

[Gillman]

It's not too late.

I am working on a whiskey version. Jim Butler inspired this idea some time ago when he reminisced about sampling these back in the 80's.

I won't post further examples though until (and if) I get it right for whiskey.

The original rum-based Zombie is in fact very good but potent is an understatement! One is enough - or half of one.

Gary

[jburlowski]

I used to know people who ordered Zombies, but I was not one of them.

Tim

I'm with Tim... in all due respect, what's the point?

When I look at all the quality ingredients that you are experimenting with... well, tears well up in my eyes.

Rule of thumb: any cocktail with more than three (or maybe four) ingredients is (perhaps) not worth making.

[Gillman]

Generally I try to make cocktails as simply as possible too, e.g., I've often said here for a Manhattan I don't use ice and often dispense with the cherry and bitters (vermouth seems to have bitters in it, or something like that). Normally I would not have tried to make a Zombie but when I did I thought it was really good! My challenge is to see if bourbon can work with pineapple, which is really the keynote of the drink. We all know it can work with orange, but pineapple is something I am not sure about. Yet I know I once saw an old ad for a rock and rye based on pineapple (it might have included celery, too, which sounds odd). I like an old-fashioned and the Zombie sounds like a fancy version using rum instead of whiskey. There are no juices added to an old-fashioned (generally, I think) but if you use the orange slice, which is part of the traditional recipe, it really adds a good taste of that fruit.

Gary

[Gillman]

A follow up: a recipe for the Ward 8 as given in the current Imbibe calls for 2 ounces straight rye, 3/4 ounces orange and lemon juices, and grenadine. (Pama, which contains real pomegranate, would seem ideal for the reddish tint). The Zombie is based on a similar amount of juices, except orange and pineapple and lime, and rums of course. Lime and lemon are often interchangeable (more or less): what "makes" the Zombie is again the pineapple/rum combination and I don't know if bourbon would work as well with the spiny fruit. Maybe a mild kind, say, Virginia Gentleman, would, or Bourbon and Canadian whiskey blended, or something like Seven Crown. I'd still want to do the float with Stagg or another very strong bourbon.

It may be that lemon, which both "kills" and enhances the whiskey taste, is essentially different from lime and especially pineapple and whiskey worthy of the name won't work with either or at least the pineapple (although at least one cocktail of the numerous given in this issue of Imbibe calls for a blending of bourbon or rye and lime).

I like thinking about what might work and what won't and will try soon to do a whiskey version.

Gary