Professor Cocktail

Making Zombies for Your Halloween Party

If you're throwing (or attending) a Halloween party this year, the Zombie is the perfect drink to serve. It has an appropriately creepy name, it's delicious, it's out of the ordinary and thus memorable, and it's a fun drink for people to enjoy.

The difficult part to serving Zombies in a party setting is that they require several ingredients and take some time to make. But you can streamline the process and make it a lot easier on yourself by doing some pre-mixing.

I tended bar at my sister-in-law's wedding rehearsal dinner last week, and I tried this method out. It worked perfectly, and the Zombies were a big hit.

The key is that you pre-mix most of the ingredients beforehand. I did mine a few days before, but you could do it right before the party instead. Whatever works best for your timeline.

Zombie Pre-Mix

Makes 11 cocktails

6 oz. Coruba, Myers's or Appleton Estate Dark Rum
6 oz. Cruzan or Flor de Cana Gold Rum
6 oz. 151-proof Rum (Lemon Hart, if possible)
3 oz. Falernum
1 oz. Grenadine
3/4 tsp. Herbsaint/Absinthe
8 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Add all ingredients (use a funnel) to an empty 750ml bottle. Shake to combine.

(If you'd like to make your Zombies a little sweeter, you could also add some simple syrup at this point.)

Once you've got your Pre-Mix made, assembling the actual cocktails at the party will be much easier. You just combine three ingredients and you're ready to go.

Zombie Party

2 oz. Zombie Pre-Mix
1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Don's Mix

Shake with ice, then pour unstrained into a glass.

For the Don's Mix, I used B.G. Reynolds' syrup. But you can also make your own -- ahead of time, of course -- by combining two parts white grapefruit juice with one part cinnamon syrup.

I know it's a hassle, but you'll want to squeeze limes for fresh juice. Lime juice has a very short shelf life -- it starts to oxidize and change flavor almost immediately. So do it as close to when you'll be serving as possible.

If you want to do this as a punch version, you could mix all the ingredients together right before the party and serve it in a big bowl or pitcher. If you're going to go that route, however, you'll need to do it shortly before you serve, and even then the flavor won't be as good. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

Whatever route you choose, don't go for the tired old shots and Screwdrivers for your Halloween party. With just a little extra effort, your drink service can be a lot more fun -- and your guests can really have a haunting good time.

Whatever happened to Amer Picon?

If you're a casual drinker, you've probably never even heard of Amer Picon -- which is probably a good thing, since it's not available anymore, and thus you don't know what you're missing. But if you're an experienced imbiber, bartender or Basque, you probably know Amer Picon. And to know it is to miss it, since it's all but impossible to acquire.

Amer Picon is a bitter-sweet French aperitif. ("Amer" is the French version of the Italian "Amaro," which translates as "bitter.") It is sometime drank before a meal to stimulate the appetitite, but more often it's mixed in cocktails, most notably the Picon Punch (the "National Drink of the Basques") and the Brooklyn Cocktail.

Amer Picon was invented by a Frenchman named Gaétan Picon in 1837, and produced by the company he started, the House of Picon. The aperitif starts with dried orange peels that are macerated (soaked) in alcohol and then distilled. (This basically creates a flavored vodka.) The distillate is then infused with gentian root and quinquina (to add bitterness), and topped off with sugar (for sweetness) and caramel (for coloring).

The Picon brand was purchased by one of the predecessor companies of the British drinks conglomerate Diageo years ago. It is no longer produced in its original form, although two replacements -- Amer Picon Club and Amer Picon Biere -- are supposedly available in France. No version of it has been exported to the United States in at least a couple of decades.

To deepen the pain even further, the recipe of Amer Picon was changed sometime in the 1970's, and its proof was lowered steadily from 52 to 42 to 36, cutting its alcohol content by over half. (The original version made by Gaétan Picon was much stronger, coming in at 78 proof.) So even if you can find a bottle from the last 30 years, it won't be the good stuff. But if you do find a bottle, please send it to me anyway.

Torani Amer is the substitute for Amer Picon that is used most often. As far as I can tell, it's only distributed in California, where it's cheap and easy to find. Or it can be ordered online. Those who know more than I say that the Torani version is a shadow of the real stuff, with far less complexity and orange flavor. It does, however, restore the spirit to its original strength of 78 proof.

Some bartenders, most notably the great Jamie Boudreau of Canon in Seattle, have created recipes of their own to try to duplicate the flavor of the original Amer Picon. Amer Boudreau (Jamie's version) is relatively easy to make, although it does take some time due to the infusion process. I've made some and it really is worth the effort. I think the flavor is clearly superior to that of Torani Amer.

However, if you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own, Torani does fill in well enough. It would be a shame not to enjoy such a great drink as the Picon Punch for want of the key ingredient.

Picon Punch

2 1/2 oz. Amer Picon (sub Torani Amer or Amer Boudreau)
1 tsp. Grenadine
1-2 oz. Club Soda
1/2 oz. Brandy

Build in a highball or collins glass filled with ice. Add Amer Picon and grenadine, then give a quick stir. Top with club soda, then the brandy float. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Topa! (That's the traditional Basque toast.)

Excerpt from "Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde"

If you're interested in taking a peek at Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World’s Most Lethal Drink before you buy it, now you can!

I uploaded a PDF excerpt of the book to Goodreads. (Here's the link to my author page.) But you should be able to download the file without even going to the website.

Just click here: Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde excerpt.

The preview gives the Table of Contents, so you can see which drinks are included, and also includes the first three entries in the book.

Note that not all of the recipes in the book are as complicated as the Don the Beachcomber original. There are several that you can make without having to hunt for ingredients.

If you enjoy what you see, you know what to do!

Knob Creek: The Cork Is Back

I received an announcement today informing me that Knob Creek is returning corks to their entire line of whiskies. You probably don't care about this -- I never even knew the corks were gone -- but I liked the picture, so I wanted to share it.

Whiskey always photographs so beautifully. Well, it does when other people take the picture. Me, not so much.

Do you care if your bottle has a cork in it? If so, why? Please share in the comments.

How to Read "Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde" without a Kindle

Several people have written or commented on Facebook, asking how they can read Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World’s Most Lethal Drink if they don't have a Kindle. Fortunately, you're still in luck! You can enjoy the Zombified goodness even without an ereader.

If you have a tablet (iPad, Android, Windows) or smartphone (iPhone, Android, iPod Touch, Windows, Blackberry), you can download the Kindle app via the app store and read the book that way. (I don't have a Kindle, so I read ebooks on my iPad. And Zombie Horde looks great on the iPad.)

You can also read Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde on your computer using the Kindle app for PC or Mac. (Just click on the appropriate link to go to the page with more info.) If you don't want to install anything on your computer, you can also read the book using the Kindle Cloud Reader. I've tried it out on the PC and this also works very well.

As you can see, there's no reason not to buy the book today! Unless you think it would suck. I guess that's a pretty good reason.

Win a Zombie Prize Pack, Courtesy of B.G. Reynolds' Syrups

If you've already bought your copy of Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World’s Most Lethal Drink (thank you!), you know that some of the ingredients that go into a classic Zombie are a little obscure.

In addition to the various rums, the recipe for Don the Beachcomber's Zombie Punch calls for Don's Mix, falernum and grenadine. (Okay, grenadine isn't hard to find. But good grenadine can be.)

In order to make your Zombie mixing a little easier, Professor Cocktail has teamed up with B.G. Reynolds to give one lucky winner a set of these three syrups.

I've mentioned B.G. Reynolds' syrups before -- their orgeat was the co-winner of our Orgeat Taste Test -- and they're also recommended in Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde. For my money, they're as good as anything you can find on the market. All the syrups are hand-crafted in Portland by bartender Blair Reynolds and his team, and contain real sugar and real ingredients.

Here's how you enter the contest: Buy a copy of Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World’s Most Lethal Drink from Amazon, then forward a copy of your email receipt to me at [email protected].

If you've already bought the book -- thanks again! -- you're set. Just forward me your purchase confirmation and you'll be entered. If you haven't purchased yet, you have until October 28, 2013 to enter.

That's it! One lucky winner will receive a set of three syrups from B.G. Reynolds -- and be quickly on his/her way to mixing Zombies. (Sorry, but U.S. residents only. Rum not included.)

Visit B.G. Reynolds' Bar Store

Rules:

Purchase is required for entry. Winner must reside (or have a shipping address) in the United States. One prize pack will be given away. Contents of prize pack are subject to change without notice. Must be at least 21 years of age to enter. One entry per person. Borrowing the book doesn't count. All decisions are final. Contest organizers aren't responsible for anything. Contest ends at 11:59pm Eastern time on October 28, 2013. Thank you for buying my book. It makes you extra handsome/pretty just for owning it.

Ten Easy Tips for Making Better Cocktails at Home

If you order a drink in a good bar, chances are it will taste better than what you can make at home. But it doesn't have to be like that. By following some simple strategies, you can greatly improve the quality of your cocktails. You may not reach A+ level, but with just a little work, you'll soon be the bartending star of the block.

1. Buy a couple pieces of decent equipment. At the very least you need a cocktail shaker and a jigger. The two together will only cost you $20 and you'll be set to make most drinks. (You can also buy a low-cost set from a store like BarProducts.com. I have this particular set and it's hard to beat for the price.)

2. Measure! Once you've got your jigger, you can start measuring all your liquids that go into the drink. This is crucial.

3. Use good ice. I wrote about ice a couple years ago, so I won't go into too much detail. If you can't make good, fresh ice at home (you need a clean, odorless freezer to do so), then buy a bag at the store. Some people are down on bought ice, but I think it's fine for most purposes.

4. Buy good quality booze. The better the booze, the better your drinks will taste. But this doesn't necessarily require you to spend a lot of money. Cruzan Rum, for example, is perfectly fine and costs less than Bacardi. Sobieski makes good quality vodka that is very cheap. You can find Tanqueray Gin on sale for under $20.

5. Know when to splurge. Bite the bullet and spend the extra money to get Cointreau and Grand Marnier (for example). They're more expensive than the other brands, but they're better. The difference between Cointreau and generic triple sec in a drink is night-and-day. The good news is, most cocktails only require an ounce or less of a liqueur. So you'll get at least 25 drinks from that one bottle. It's worth it.

6. Use fresh juices. Everyone says this, and there's a reason for that. I do sometimes use canned/bottled juices (Bad Professor!), but most varieties just don't taste very good. If you use fresh lime and lemon juice, your drinks will taste better. You can get away with buying orange juice and grapefruit juice from the store, but try to get fresh, not-from-concentrate.

7. Avoid any mixers with high fructose corn syrup. In addition to being bad for you, HFCS doesn't mix well in cocktails. You can almost always find substitutes that contain real sugar. They probably won't even cost any more. You just need to read labels.

8. Buy some decent glasses. A few highball, cocktail, rocks, and collins glasses won't set you back very much, but they'll make your drink experience so much nicer. The right glass can also make your drink taste better, by ensuring you don't flood it with too much mixer. You can buy Libbey brand glasses at Amazon or Target and they don't cost very much. Or you can find unique glasses at your local thrift store for very cheap.

9. Don't substitute ingredients until you know what you're doing. If a recipe calls for a particular kind of juice or liqueur or mixer, use it. You need to have a good understanding of the flavors before you can start changing things up. Sometimes substitutions work -- but they often end up in a wasted glass of booze.

10. Taste your drinks before you serve them. If you watch videos on YouTube of bartenders in high-end cocktail bars, you'll often notice them tasting their cocktails before pouring them into the glass. (The usual method of doing this is to take a straw, plug one end, and dip it in the drink. This draws out a small amount that you can taste.) This is your last chance to fix anything in your cocktail that might be off. Too sweet? Add more citrus. Too tart? Add more sweetener. Etc.

If you have any tips that you'd like to share, please post them in the comments below, or email them along.

Cocktail Recipe: Don the Beachcomber's Zombie Punch (1934)

In my new book, Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World’s Most Lethal Drink, I make the case for the Zombie being the quintessential Tiki drink -- and one of the most important cocktail creations of the 20th century.

But you might be wondering: What's in a Zombie, anyway? Good question! Most of us have heard of the drink, but a lot of people have never tried one. And even fewer have had a Zombie made in the classic style.

Here is the recipe for the original Don the Beachcomber Zombie, as printed in Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde. (This gives you an idea of what you'll see if you buy it.)

Don the Beachcomber's Zombie Punch (1934)

Source:

Jeff Berry
Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari
Club Tiki Press/SLG Publishing, 2007

The original version, the one that started it all, as served at Don the Beachcomber's famed Hollywood restaurant. This was the drink that made Don's reputation and secured his place in cocktail history.

Instructions:

3/4 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Don's Mix*
1/2 oz. Falernum
1 1/2 oz. Gold Puerto Rican Rum
1 1/2 oz. Aged Jamaican Rum
1 oz. 151-proof Lemon Hart Demerara Rum
Dash Angostura Bitters
6 drops (1/8 tsp.) Pernod or Herbsaint
1 tsp. Grenadine
6 oz (3/4 cup) Crushed Ice

Put everything in a blender. Blend at high speed for no more than 5 seconds. Pour into a chimney glass. Add ice cubes to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig.

*Don's Mix was one of the Beachcomber's secret ingredients. It's made by combining 2 parts grapefruit juice with 1 part cinnamon syrup. It is also available for purchase from B.G. Reynolds' syrups.

Professor's Note:

This recipe, still perhaps the best one in existence, contains several of Don the Beachcomber's signature touches, including the blend of multiple rums, the use of exotic spices, and the one-two punch of Angostura bitters and pastis. It's no wonder this is one of the most imitated drinks in the world.

Obviously Don's original version of the drink contains some obscure ingredients, like Don's Mix, falernum and Lemon Hart Rum. (The book explains what all of those things are, and more.)

But Professor Cocktail’s Zombie Horde also contains a lot of recipes that are easier for the home bartender, including a simplified Zombie recipe that includes only ingredients you can find no matter where you live.

Even if you're not looking to master mixology at home, the book contains plenty of interesting history and fun facts that I think you'll enjoy learning.

The Zombie Is Alive! "Zombie Horde" available now.

One of the world’s most sublime drinking pleasures, the Zombie is the cocktail that launched a thousand Tiki bars. A sweet and sour mélange of citrus, spice, and lots of rum, the Zombie stands as one of the most significant cocktails of the past century. Created by Don the Beachcomber in 1934, the Zombie took the world by storm, and soon became the quintessential Tiki drink. Eventually, it would appear on the menus of thousands of bars and restaurants around the world.

In Zombie Horde, David J. Montgomery (aka Professor Cocktail) leads you on a journey through the history of the Zombie, starting with its humble beginnings in Hollywood, and following it as it evolved and spread over the decades. Zombie Horde includes recipes from notable bartenders like Trader Vic, David Embury, Salvatore Calabrese, and Dale DeGroff, as well as the formulas for the Zombies served at famous Tiki joints like the Tonga Room in San Francisco, Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas, and the Luau Room in San Diego.

It also includes recent cocktails that were inspired by the Zombie, with offerings from Martin Cate (Smuggler’s Cove), Brian Miller (Death & Company), Allan Katz (Caña Rum Bar), Brian Dressel (Midnight Cowboy), and Audrey Saunders (Pegu Club).

As a special bonus, Zombie Horde showcases seven new drinks -- from Jim Meehan (PDT), Tom Brown (Hogo), Jeff Kinder (Distil), Joseph Swifka (La Descarga), Craig Lane (Bar Agricole), Jack Fetterman (PKNY), and Frank Cisneros (Bourgeois Pig Brooklyn) -- that are appearing in print for the first time. Also making their print debut are the recipes for the Zombies served at Mahiki in London, Otto’s Shrunken Head in New York City, and Founding Farmers in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

“Zombie Horde is a marvelous compendium of fabulous and fascinating recipes. Tiki bars are near and dear to my heart, and I'm grateful for David J. Montgomery's work.”
--Michael Ruhlman, best-selling author of The Soul of a Chef, The French Laundry Cookbook, and Ruhlman’s Twenty

"Good (Tiki) god! I had no idea there are so many new versions of this potion out there -- and most by reputable bartenders. A good thing that someone collected them all, or else there would have to be a mid-21st century Jeff Berry (a "Son of the Beachbum"?) to dig all THOSE up! Zombie Horde will give the drink a whole new level of recognition. The Zombie is ALIVE!"
--Sven Kirsten, author of The Book of Tiki and father of the modern Tiki revival

"The Zombie's family tree is immense, gnarly, and (in parts) wholly fabricated from unnatural elements. Also, it has many dead limbs. Professor Cocktail has done us all a favor by taking on the pruning, grafting, and fertilizing, and by eschewing all topiary embellishment. A great addition to your cocktail library."
--Wayne Curtis, author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails

“As I’ve said before, Tiki drinks occupy a space somewhere in the Venn diagram of the American psyche where escapism, irony, and kitsch overlap. No Tiki cocktail is more famous -- or infamous -- than the Zombie. It is proof that mixology treads a thin line between insanity and genius. Attempting to chart the history and evolution of the Zombie feels like a new level of madness. But David J. Montgomery has survived to admirably tell the tale in this entertaining, insightful ode to a drink that will knock you on your ass.”
--Jason Wilson, author of Boozehound: On The Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits and the wine series Planet of the Grapes

“A thoroughly researched, dare I say exhaustive, compendium of this immortal (pun intended) and classic cocktail. It's a drink like the Zombie that makes it impossible for me to reconcile my vocation (trademark attorney) with my avocation (cocktail geek). Indeed, in no other field do you find such rampant disregard for the sanctity of a name. But there is great chaos under the cocktail heavens and, as Zombie Horde so ably shows, the situation is excellent. Highly entertaining! Hats off to Professor Cocktail, Corpse Compiler No. 1!”
--Philip Greene, author of To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion and co-founder of The Museum of the American Cocktail

About the Author

David J. Montgomery mixes his love of history and alcohol into one potent concoction through his work at ProfessorCocktail.com. He is also a nationally renowned book critic and commentator on writing and the publishing industry. Mr. Montgomery is an emeritus columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Beast, and has written for USA Today, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and other fine publications. His short fiction has appeared both online and in print. A former Professor of History, he lives in the Washington, D.C. suburbs with his wife and two daughters.

Book Review: Vince Keenan's "Down the Hatch"

Until he was in his twenties, crime writer Vince Keenan knew as much about cocktails as your maiden aunt Betty. You know, the one who also happens to be a nun. But one day Keenan's wife -- clearly the brains of the outfit -- convinced him to try a real drink. That was the beginning of what was to become a minor, but magnificent, obsession.

Keenan became a regular at the Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle, Washington, where star bartenders like Erik Hakkinen and Murray Stenson plied their trade. Keenan was an eager learner and a quick study, and he watched everything the bartenders did, and then went home and tried it out on his own.

Down the Hatch tells the stories of the cocktails Keenan learned, both the histories and facts of the drinks themselves, along with his own encounters with them. Naturally, he also includes the recipes for the drinks so that you can make them at home. He features the best-known classic cocktails, ranging from the Margarita and Manhattan, to the Tom Collins and Jack Rose. Unlike the recipes one finds through Google searches, these are legitimate, tried-and-true recipes that you can safely follow to create delicious drinks.

Keenan isn't a bartender or professional spirits taster. He's a writer, and not surprisingly, Down the Hatch is a well written book. Kennan is a guy like you or me who spent the time learning how to make cocktails, and now he's sharing that knowledge with us. He's an amateur in the original sense of the word: someone who does something out of love.

Part recipe book, part history lesson, and part memoir, Down the Hatch makes for a fun, informative, and very useful read. Be warned, however: just flipping through it is liable to make you thirsty. If you're settling in for the long haul -- and you definitely should -- you might make sure you have a drink close at hand.