Recipe Friday: Zombie cocktail

In issue 31, we investigate the history of cocktails in all their weird and wonderful glory. Whether you're drinking to remember or to forget this weekend, we thought you'd appreciate a lesson in creating the particularly tropical, highly infectious, Zombie.   

Illustrations by Padhraic Mulholland for issue 31 of Oh Comely. The 'Zombie' is third from the left

Illustrations by Padhraic Mulholland for issue 31 of Oh Comely. The 'Zombie' is third from the left

Cocktails – with their numerous ingredients and complicated preparation techniques – are seen as drinks for special occasions; perhaps if beer came with a little umbrella or a sparkler we might think of it the same way too. Novelty drinking places emphasis on presentation – at its most evocative, cheesy and wonderful in the Tiki Bars of the pre- and postwar period. Serving rum-based drinks like Zombies (also known, thrillingly, as “skull-punchers”) in coconuts and pineapples, these romanticised impressions of Polynesian culture understood that a good cocktail feels like the first day of a holiday.

You can serve a Zombie in a Hurricane glass too, or a tumbler, we're not fussy.

Serves 1

25ml White rum
25ml Golden rum
25ml Dark rum
25ml Apricot brandy
25ml Pineapple juice
A dash of 151-proof rum
Squeeze of lime
Garnished with a cocktail cherry

Mix all ingredients together apart from the 151 in a shaker with ice. Pour into the glass and top with the 151. You can also set this drink on fire if you're feeling particularly exasperated/celebratory.

Find more cocktail inspiration in issue 31 of Oh Comely, out now.