Sunday, April 3, 2016

THE DREADED ZOMBIE

SWMBO and I visited a Tiki bar when we last lived in Phoenix.

It was my suggestion.

I remember fondly the many happy meals (and drinks) we used to have at the original Trader Vic's restaurant in Scottsdale.

It was loaded with kitsch, fake food of the islands and powerful drinks.

But we young(er) romantics loved it.

So when I read about a bar and restaurant called Hula's Modern Tiki in Central Phoenix, I had to check it out.

We stopped in one day just for a peek and a drink.

The drinks are shown on the banner at the top of this page.

Mine is a Pink Bikini Martini, which featured watermelon juice.

SWMBO said she'd try a Zombie, a drink she hadn't tasted for decades.

Probably for a good reason.

Esquire Magazine's recipe is on the web.

It has light, dark and golden rum mixed with lime, pineapple and papaya juice and a teaspoon of superfine sugar.

Then to top it off there's a "float" of 151-proof rum!

And there's a toothpick with two cherries surrounding a cube of pineapple atop the drink.

Don the Beachcomber supposedly invented the drink back in the 1930's for some guy with a horrendous hangover.

It is said that no self-respecting bartender will allow a patron more than two of these killer cocktails.

SWMBO said hers was good and we left after one to go home for a nap.

All of this has absolutely nothing to do with this next song but I always enjoyed it back in the mid-20th Century.



10 comments:

  1. My first legal drink was a Singapore Sling, they lit it on fire for me. Had it at a bar in Denver, it was their 21st birthday special. I haven't had one since and have no plans to.

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    1. I had a couple of colleagues who used to get drunk and disorderly on Singapore Slings.

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  2. A drink and a nap sounds good.

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  3. Always loved the Kingston Trio.

    The first and only time I ever tried 151 rum was with some Puerto Rican cohorts at work celebrating the Met's World Series win. I remarked that it didn't seem all that strong, and was told, "wait until you try to stand up." It was not long before I understood.

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    1. I covered an insurance fraud trial in Bismarck once where one of the defense lawyers was a hotshot out of Chicago named Frank Oliver. He used to drink Demerara 151 at the bar every night. I never figured out how he got to court every morning. He also had smoked whitefish flown in from Chicago.

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  4. Hope she likes rum! And that the Zombie didn't eat her brain.

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  5. She likes it in small doses very occasionally. She's a Canadian Whiskey drinker. I used to drink a lot of run-and-Cokes (Cuba Libres). I said "I never get drunk on these. 'Course I may go blind but . . ."

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  6. I used to love tiki bars and especially the Puu Puu platter appetizers.

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  7. Those drinks with umbrellas can do damage. I used to like rum and grape fruit juice, but I can't drink that any more-the grapefruit juice. One of the most memorable rum evenings was drinking Havana Club neat in the Cohiba Hotel in Havana with a good cigar.

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