This fiercely guarded Donn Beach recipe was the elusive key to the original Zombie. Double-encrypted, Don's Mix was finally decoded by Jeff Berry as a mixture of white grapefruit juice and Spices #4... ie. cinnamon syrup. When combined, you get the baking spice of the cinnamon and an earthy sweetness from the grapefruit, a taste that's almost like that of apple pie. Dee-lish!
For such a near-mythical ingredient, it's almost too easy to make - simply squeeze your grapefruit/s and combine the juice with your cinnamon syrup at a ratio of 2:1 (grapefruit to cinnamon). And if you don't have any cinnamon syrup, see our recipe below.
Then, decant the mixture into a sterilised bottle... and you're good to go!However, we'd recommend not combining this as a pre-mix unless you know you're going to be using a good amount of it for a specific occasion.The reason being that Cinnamon Syrup has a decent shelf-life but the addition of a juice will drastically reduce this. Also, the flavor of the grapefruit benefits from being used when it's freshly squeezed.
Notes
Fresh white grapefruit is used due to its bitterness and acidity, but if you only have pink or red grapefruits to hand, it's fine to use them instead. Though as they're a little sweeter, you may want to use slightly less juice.Or, if you're looking to make the whole thing as easy as possible then shop bought grapefruit juice and BG Reynolds Cinnamon Syrup will get you there faster - though depending on the juice you bought it may be quite sweet, so adjust quantity downwards accordingly.
History
In 2005, Jennifer Santiago, the daughter of Dick Santiago (a former barman who was hired at Don the Beachcomber’s in 1937), produced a notebook of her fathers, which she then copied and handed over to Jeff Berry. Inside were a number of recipes that had been put together from the original Beachcomber’s menu, with one in particular that was highly likely to be the original 1934 Zombie. The only problem was that one of the ingredients was in code… the now legendary Don’s Mix.On the last page of the notebook however, was a breakdown of what this elusive ingredient entailed… two parts grapefruit to one part… ‘Spices #4’. Aarghh.Jeff turned to Mike Buhen of Tiki-Ti for aid - and although his dad, Ray (another of the original Beachcomber barmen from the early 30's), had told Mike stories of how the secret ingredients were made - he was unable to enlighten Berry as to the answer of this secondary encryption.It wasn’t until a year later that Berry was introduced to Bob Esmino, another tiki bartender from back in the day. When asked whether he knew what Don's Spice #4 was, he replied... “Cinnamon syrup”. The code was cracked. Davinci eat your heart out. And then and there Jeff ‘Beachbum’ Berry re-gifted the world ‘Don’s Mix’ and subsequently Don’s original 1934 Zombie Punch!
Cocktail Recommendations
You've GOT to give the 1934 Zombie a go (surely that's why you want to make this mix in the first place, eh? 🧟♂️) and of course the Donga Punch is also a must.