If you’re looking for the perfect (potent) drink to get the party going, our Zombie cocktail recipe is a great place to start. This classic cocktail has a special place in American cocktail history and was first mixed together in 1934 by Donn Beach, owner and creator of the country’s first-ever tiki bar, Don the Beachcomber, in Hollywood. As the tiki bar craze became more popular, so did retro rum-based fruity drinks like the Mai Tais, Rum Runners, and Zombies.

QUICK TIPS
INSTRUCTIONS
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
Add the rum, pineapple juice, and lime juice
Shake until frosty
Fill a Collins glass with ice
Strain the mixture into the glass
Add a dash of grenadine
Garnish with orange wedges, cherries, and mint
Add a swizzle stick and serve
What is a Zombie cocktail?
The original Zombie cocktail recipe contains a staggering amount of ingredients, including Appleton Estate Jamaican Rum, gold rum, 151-proof rum, lime, grapefruit juice, cinnamon syrup, Grenadine, falernum, Pernod, and bitters.
As the Zombie alcoholic drink became more popular across the country, different influences and bars evolved the cocktail into various fruit flavors—from passionfruit to pineapple and even papaya. The one constant that remained part of Zombie cocktail ingredients throughout the years, however, is the addition of rum. This is definitely one of the most famous rum-based summer cocktails out there.
The best Zombie cocktail recipe
This is our take on the best Zombie cocktail, and it’s the perfect tropical cocktail for hot summer days—especially when served with a tiki-themed snacks menu.
While the original recipe calls for 10 different ingredients, we like to keep things simple. Still, we’ll warn you: you and your friends might turn into creatures from The Walking Dead if you have too many of these rum-based fruity cocktails, so take it slowly.
There are three types of rum in the Zombie cocktail
Our original Zombie cocktail ingredients contain three types of rum.
- Appleton Estate Rum: This blended rum has an aroma of molasses, banana, orange, and sweet fruit with notes of caramel, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Gold rum: this is most commonly used in mojitos and has notes of vanilla and toasted almonds.
- 151-Proof: Also known as overproof rum, this blend of light and dark rum contains 75.5% alcohol and is mainly used in cocktails and shots. 151-proof rum usually floats on top of drinks and can be ignited as part of your cocktail party trick. Be careful, though—it’s got quite a kick!