The pursuit of dangerous Zombies and other potent libations served in ominous mugs is a year-round pursuit for many of us. But the Halloween season is prime time for mixologists to conjure up creative new potions for the not-so-faint of heart.
To meet that challenge, we offer up a flight of three deadly drinks with a dark and foreboding flair. And, of course, more than a touch of Tiki.
The Black Magic Cocktail at The Atomic Grog, October 2023. The Mai-Kai Shrunken Head mug by Tiki Tony and Eekum Bookum for The Hukilau 2017. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward)
• 1/4 ounce fresh orange juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
• 1/2 ounce rich honey mix
• 3/4 ounces freshly brewed and chilled coffee
• 1 ounce dark Jamaican rum (Mai-Kai blend or substitute)
• 1 ounce gold (lightly aged) Spanish-style rum
• 1/2 ounces dark rum
• 1/4 ounce Mariano’s Mix #7
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice dram
• 1-2 dashes Angostura bitters
Pulse blend with 1 cup of crushed ice for 5 seconds. Strain into a chilled 6-ounce cocktail glass.
There’s a symphony of flavors packed into this small sipper. It’s rich and heavy on the spice and coffee, even more so than its big brother. Without the ice in the glass, it stays robust to the last drop. The bitters and allspice balance the sweet and sour notes, leaving the rums to form a solid but not overwhelming backbone.
We’re sorely missing The Mai-Kai’s beloved Hulaween party for the second year in a row, but luckily fans of potent Tiki cocktails will be able to drown their sorrows with a distinctive drink that hasn’t been served since the historic restaurant closed for refurbishments in October 2020.
The Zombie, which traces its roots all the way back to tropical drink pioneer Don the Beachcomber, is available for a limited time as part of The Mai-Kai’s periodic takeout cocktail program. You can order the deadly classic by the quart and gallon, the perfect addition to weekend Halloween gatherings.
Pickup dates are Friday, Oct. 28 (4-6 p.m.) and Saturday, Oct. 29 (10 a.m.-noon). Call public relations director Pia Dahlquist 954-646-8975 to place your order.
Consume with caution, however, since this is one of the strongest cocktails ever created. Donn Beach’s original 1934 recipe included 4 ounces of three different rums, including overproof, and he famously limited guests to two drinks per visit.
The Mai-Kai’s version, created by former Beachcomber bartender Mariano Licudine for the restaurant’s 1956 opening, is more balanced and accessible yet still packs a potent punch (and a healthy dose of 151 rum). It replaced the equally strong Jet Pilot on the “Gallons To Go” menu for Halloween and is priced accordingly (gallon $156, quart $44).
Also on the menu are three other popular standbys: Barrel O’ Rum (gallon $95, quart $30), Black Magic (gallon $95, quart $30), and Mai Tai (gallon $142, quart $40). Click on the links for our comprehensive reviews and recipes for all the cocktails.
All are among the most acclaimed libations in our Mai-Kai cocktail guide, but the top-rated Zombie is a rare treat. It’s complex and a little difficult to execute in large batches, so it hasn’t been offered as part of the popular to-go initiative, which launched early in the pandemic and has continued during the closing.
It also requires some care for guests to pull off the perfect Zombie at home. Luckily, manager Kern Mattei and former Molokai bar server Claudia Marmolejo showed us how to mix up the perfect Halloween treat in a recent Facebook video:
We remain thankful for every bit of good news. While a few of the stories below are frustrating (No. 4) or bittersweet (No. 1), they’re far out-numbered by the explosions of creativity and collective talent that drove most of the year’s activity. For that, we toast the entire Tiki community with a new cocktail and The Atomic Grog’s picks for the 10 most newsworthy stories of 2021. Bonus recipe below:The Tiki Lover
1. ALOHA AND FAREWELL, OCEANIC ARTS
As sure as the sun rose in the east and set in the west, there was one enduring creative force over the past six decades of Polynesian Pop style. In November 2021, there was a total eclipse and extended period of mourning when it was announced that Oceanic Arts would be closing its doors as its 80-something-year-old founders embark on a well-deserved retirement. Established in 1956 in Southern California by Robert Van Oosting and LeRoy Schmaltz, the company was always the go-to provider of original and imported pieces of South Seas art and decor for everyone from home enthusiasts to theme park giants including Disney (the doors to Trader Sam’s in Disneyland are Schmaltz’ handiwork). Art and woodwork originating from Oceanic Arts has been featured in nearly every legendary Polynesian palace, from Don the Beachcomber to Trader Vic’s to The Mai-Kai. The company put together movie set pieces and provided the distinctive style of many of the mid 20th century’s Tiki-themed hotels and motels, bowling alleys, and countless other establishments. Buoyed by the Tiki revival, the small shop in Whittier became a mecca for Tikiphiles from around the world and inspired a new generation of carvers and artists in the 21st century.
While the closing seemed to have come out of the blue, Van Oosting and Schmaltz had been planning their retirement for some time. They joined forces with longtime friend Jordan Reichek, owner of Peekaboo Gallery in nearby Montrose, for an epic career-spanning retrospective coming in 2022. In the spring, look for what’s being called an “experiential Tiki exhibition” featuring art and artifacts from Oceanic Arts paired with special events that include live music and performances, panel discussions, an “epic Tiki bar,” and more. The events will culminate with the “ultimate Tiki auction” art show and sale. In the meantime, the gallery is taking pre-orders for a mammoth Oceanic Arts history book compiled and written by Reichek, who worked closely with Van Oosting and Schmaltz. Oceanic Arts: The Godfathers of Tiki is a 500-page opus that documents the rich history of Oceanic Arts via thousands of photos, original artwork and historical documents from the archives. After 65 years, Oceanic Arts leaves an indelible mark on pop culture that is likely to last for many more decades to come.
The entire Tiki community heaved a sigh of relief in September when the announcement came that The Mai-Kai – the historic, 65-year-old restaurant in Fort Lauderdale that has been closed due to storm damage since October 2020 – was saved from extinction by a new ownership team that will pump millions of dollars into a restoration and refurbishment. The year started with much concern after press reports emerged about the roof damage that destroyed the kitchen. A “Save The Mai-Kai” petition gathered more than 10,000 signatures in less than a month as devoted fans united online to share their support and concerns. The skeleton crew of owners and staff continued to offer regular takeout cocktails and began a series of events in the expansive parking lot. The highlights were The Mai-Kai’s first-ever Tiki Marketplace in April featuring vendors, entertainers, cocktails, rum tasting and more. A follow-up event in July kept the momentum going while behind-the-scene negotiations were likely starting to ramp up.
The big announcement came in September, just after hundreds of Tikiphiles from around the country finally returned to Fort Lauderdale for the 19th edition of The Hukilau. Then, a week later, the long-awaited news dropped. The founding Thornton family released details on social media on Sept. 28, outlining the joint venture with a South Florida-based real estate investment and development company known for working with legacy businesses. Its sister hospitality company already operates several vintage venues in Miami’s Little Havana. “We’re looking forward to working closely with the Barlington Group and Mad Room Hospitality to sustain The Mai-Kai the world has come to know and love,” the announcement said. “We’re excited to bring back The Mai-Kai better than ever before — and for you to be a special part of it!” Check out links to our in-depth report above and latest updates below.
The crushing blow of the pandemic was not easy to overcome for event organizers, but we slowly came out of our homes in 2021 and began to gather again in safe and physically-distanced environments. Longtime online meet-ups – most notably Tiki Trail Live and Spike’s Breezeway Cocktail Hour – continued to thrive. But many longed for live human interaction, and a handful of key (mainly outdoor) events delivered that experience in the year’s early months. Then, when vaccines became widely available, we saw the return of several major Tiki events starting with Arizona Tiki Oasis on April 22-25. Carefully organized by Baby Doe and Otto von Stroheim, the event paved the way for an active summer, including the couple’s flagship Tiki Oasis on July 28 -Aug. 1 in San Diego. Momentum slowed in the late summer and fall as the first of several coronavirus variants emerged, but Tikiphiles still flocked to scaled-down events including Ohana: Luau At The Lake in upstate New York, The Hukilau and Tiki Fever in Florida, and Tiki Caliente in Palm Springs, Calif. Rum aficionados around the world also were able to get back into the swing of tasting events, from the Jamaica Rum Festival in March to the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival in November. See the full list of major 2021 events below.
The Atomic Grog home bar is ready for the 2021 holiday season. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, December 2021)
If you’re in a cold climate, you can curl up in front of the fire with a warm and comforting mug of holiday cheer. If you’re fortunate enough (like us) to hail from closer to the Equator, there are plenty of cool and refreshing concoctions to scratch your tropical itch. Hell, why not enjoy all of the options no matter where you live?
As this season’s wildly popular pop-up bars – most notably Miracle and Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Santa – continue to prove, there’s no shortage of demand for creative and well-themed Christmas cocktails. Beyond the big dogs, there are also one-off themed overlays in bars across the globe that are also worth checking out.
We make no claim to the expertise of those fantastic folks in the trenches, but it’s always fun to experiment with holiday flavors like a spoiled kid in a toy store. Joining The Atomic Grog’s pantheon of winter cocktails are three new creations, including our first seasonal Zombie ….
This time of year is not all snowmen and mistletoe. There are some elements of the season that make us feel like the walking dead. What better way to deal with the holiday hubris than a nice, stiff Zombie …
CHRISTMAS CREEPER (By Hurricane Hayward, The Atomic Grog)
Christmas Creeper by The Atomic Grog. Zombie glassware and swizzle by Brian Rechenmacher, aka B-Rex. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, December 2021)
Pulse blend with 1 1/2 cups of crushed ice for 6-9 seconds. Pour into a Zombie glass, adding more ice to fill. Garnish with mint and swizzle stick.
Tasting notes
This looks like a Zombie and tastes like a Zombie, but it’s also full of sweet and tart holiday cheer. The potent rums and lime-cranberry combo hit you hard, but the spice and anise notes creep up on you. As will the alcohol content, so consume with caution or risk becoming a holiday party story your relatives will retell with relish.
Endorsed by creepy Santas everywhere: Christmas Creeper by The Atomic Grog. Zombie glassware and swizzle by Brian Rechenmacher, aka B-Rex. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, December 2021)
Ingredient, mixing tips
* The cranberry and pomegranate, combined with the fresh lime, provide an enveloping underlying tartness that serves as a great base for the bold rums, anise and unique punch of the kirsch. We recommend a high-quality (or homemade) grenadine and natural cranberry juice. We didn’t try this, but it might also be worth swapping the grenadine for a cranberry simple syrup.
* Brown sugar syrup is easy to make by heating 1 part dark brown sugar with 1 part water on the stove until it starts to boil, then cooling in the fridge. We also make our own ginger and cinnamon syrups, and there are quite a few recipes available online. But if you’re not adventurous, we also recommend the bottled options, from B.G. Reynolds and Real Syrups.
* Kirschwasser, aka kirsch, is a colorless brandy that originated in Germany and is made from fermented cherries. It’s usually bottled at 80 to 90 proof and has a distinctive bitter cherry flavor that works well in a Zombie. It’s traditionally drunken neat as a digestif, but you can also find it in cocktails. It can also be used in festive holiday cakes, candies and the flaming cherries jubilee dessert. It’s relatively easy to find in liquor stores and worth seeking out for this distinctive cocktail. It works well with the rums and the traditional cocktail spices, absinthe and allspice. For the latter, we chose the subtle touch of a bitters (such as Dale DeGroff’s Pimento Aromatic Bitters) but a very small dash of pimento dram would work as well.
Upon completion of The Hukilau this weekend at the Beachcomber Resort and The Mai-Kai, event attendees had one additional challenge: Sunday’s “Hereafter Party” dubbed The Final Destination at Death or Glory in Delray Beach. To bring the theme full circle, The Atomic Grog presented a Zombie to end all Zombies.
This was not your typical Tiki party. Death or Glory was transformed into “Death or Gory” for the Halloween season, complete with full-on decor and a themed food and cocktail menu. Sunday’s festivities took place in the graveyard (the outdoor Tiki bar and patio) and feature the instrumental stylings of Skinny Jimmy Stingray, himself no stranger to sinister surf songs. The Hukilau 2021 recap:Daily social media photos
Similarly, the cocktail below is not your typical Zombie. Sure, The Final (Destination) Zombie may look like a Zombie and act like a Zombie, but I don’t recall ever seeing a version of this deadly classic featuring mezcal. The pungent agave spirit is right at home in this new concoction, and Mexico’s Day of the Dead tradition makes it a natural fit.
Some of the many spirits conjured up by Death or Glory in Delray Beach. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward)
This hybrid Zombie was crafted with the help of the Luau Lads from Jacksonville. This bartending duo made some of the best cocktails at The Hukilau in addition to presenting a fascinating symposium on the history of Tiki in the Sunshine State.
Since 2013, the traditional way to wrap up The Hukilau has been a Sunday afternoon party at The Mai-Kai featuring surf guitarist Skinny Jimmy Stingray, the perfect way to bring the Tiki weekender to a close with a bang. And while The Molokai bar is sadly unavailable this year, the finale has been resurrected with a ghoulish twist by one of the event’s longtime bar partners.
Get ready for The Hukilau: Final Destination, the 2021 event’s “Hereafter Party at Death or Gory in Hellray Beach” on Sunday, Sept. 19, from 3 p.m. until whenever the spirits decide it’s time to leave. Yes, this year’s finale will take a demonic twist thanks to the creative folks at Death or Glory, the acclaimed craft cocktail bar and restaurant in Delray Beach. UPDATED:The Hukilau 2021: Social media photos
Skinny Jimmy and his three-piece band will rock the outdoor Tiki bar and patio (aka graveyard), which has been decorated spooktacularly for the Halloween season. There’s plenty of space outside for both Hukilau guests and the general public, who are also invited to this free event. The band starts around 4 p.m., so don’t be late.
The Death or Gory theme extends to the food and cocktails, which include deadly libations such as The Buddy of Christ Zombie and Dead on Arrival. Sponsors Don Q and Plantation will also bring plenty of rum to the party, and you might even be able to taste an Atomic Grog cocktail as we return to host and promote the after-party for the eighth time and celebrate our 10th anniversary at The Hukilau.
Death or Gory, aka Death or Glory, in Delray Beach. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, September 2021)
The Final Destination is about 20 miles due north of the Beachcomber Resort & Club, The Hukilau’s headquarters in Pompano Beach. But thanks to the generosity of Plantation Rum, a code will be available for villagers to get free round-trip rides via Uber. Death or Glory is at 116 N.E. Sixth Ave. in the northeast corner of Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue dining and bar district.
A full menu will also be available for lunch and dinner. Indoor dining and bar seating is available for small parties. Visit DeathorGloryBar.com or call (561) 808-8814.
Death or Glory will also be participating as a pop-up bar during The Hukilau events at the Beachcomber, so be sure to sample their drinks and meet the bartenders. Over the past several years, guest bartenders from visiting Tiki establishments across the country have made Death or Glory their own final destination on Sundays. They often jumped behind the bar for special guest shifts, a tradition we expect to see continue this year.
Skinny Jimmy Stingray and his band perform in The Molokai bar at The Mai-Kai during The Hukilau in June 2108. (Photo by Heather McKean)
Skinny Jimmy Stingray has been a fixture at The Hukilau, rocking The Molokai during the weekend with his reverential classic surf tunes and select covers. With longtime cohorts Frenchy on stand-up bass and Kevin on drums, the trio has also performed at bars and clubs around the region. Jimmy has also opened for legends such as Dick Dale, the Surfaris, and Los Straitjackets. Check out the music on Bandcamp and YouTube.
Halloween started early in “Hellray Beach” with Death or Gory kicking off on Sept. 6 this year. It’s the fourth year of the spirited seasonal pop-up, inspired by the bar’s success with the Miracle concept during the winter season. Death or Glory has transformed into the kitschy Christmas bar every year since 2017, with 2021 in the works.
* Past Atomic Grog coverage: Miracle expands in South Florida Miracle cocktails reviewed and ranked
The Buddy of Christ Zombie and the Death or Gory cocktail menu. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward)
Open since April 2017, Death or Glory was nominated for Best New American Cocktail Bar at the Spirited Awards at Tales of the Cocktail in 2018. It’s known for its inventive cocktails and food, including many vegetarian and vegan options. It has an extensive spirits menu, including dozens of gins, mezcals, tequilas, and whiskeys. The rum collection tops 100 and is the largest in Palm Beach County, including many rare and premium options.
It was an honor to create the signature Tiki Trail Zombie and appear on the long-running online meet-up last Tuesday to mix it up for an enthusiastic audience. We hope the drink lives up to the high standards of past mixologists on Tiki Trail Live and knocks everyone dead. * Go straight to the recipe
If you truly want to get into the spirit of the drink – as well as support the Tiki Trail – you can also pick up a great collection of merchandise featuring artwork by The Boozy Doodler in honor of the cocktail:
TIKI TRAIL ZOMBIE COCKTAIL IPHONE CASE ($19.95) – Protect your most important device from scratches, dust, oil, and dirt. It has a solid back and flexible sides that make it easy to take on and off, with precisely aligned port openings. Available in sizes that fit 13 different iPhone models, this case features a solid back and flexible sides so it’s easy to take on and off. Featuring precisely aligned port openings, the case is made of BPA-free hybrid thermoplastic polyurethane and polycarbonate material.
TIKI TRAIL ZOMBIE COCKTAIL T-SHIRT ($28.95) – Be the envy or your horde with this 100% cotton men’s heavyweight shirt featuring The Boozy Doodler artwork on the front and the Tiki Trail Zombie cocktail recipe on the back for easy reference. Shirts are available in six colors (maroon, black, navy, sand, natural, and white) and eight different sizes (from small to 5XL).
STAINLESS STEEL WATER BOTTLE ($28.95) – Stay hydrated or take your Zombie on the go with this versatile bottle that’s perfect for both the apocalypse or everyday bar crawls. This 17-ounce, high-grade stainless steel vacuum flask features double-wall construction plus odorless and leak-proof cap. It’s insulated for both hot and cold liquids and uses a patented coating for vibrant colors.
Click on the links above to see details and order each item. Or go here to see all the merch in the Tiki Trail store. You can find past Tiki Trail goodies including the Lost Canteen of the Kanaloa Kid and “Peace, love and Tiki” T-shirts.
Scroll below for the backstory and recipe for Tiki Trail Zombie.
In the cinematic Zombie apocalypse, there are certain trails you should avoid if you hope to stay alive. In the real world, there are more appealing paths that lead to deadly (but delicious) tropical cocktails. For the latter, there’s no better route than the Tiki Trail.
Tiki Trail Live, which happens every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Pacific time (9 p.m. Eastern), is the longest-running weekly online gathering of Tiki culture enthusiasts. After surviving the entire coronavirus pandemic (so far), what’s a little Zombie infestation?
The Tiki Trail Zombie, created by The Atomic Grog in honor of the horde of Tikiphiles who religiously meet up every Tuesday, will make its debut on the show this week (June 29). Check out the recipe below and be ready to join us in mixing up our latest 10th anniversary Zombie before enjoying interviews with artists and musicians from across the Tiki universe. The Zoom meeting ID is 724 724 4576.
Host Jeff Ballard, creator of the TikiTrail.com website and Tikicomber app, has guided the show though 64 weeks of Zoom meet-ups since March 2020 with just one week off (election night in November). His indispensable assistant, Sam, never fails to come up with an intriguing lineup of guests. Familiar names are complemented by new faces nearly every week, displaying the diversity and worldwide reach of the Tiki scene.
While most of the gatherings over the past year have been hosted in Ballard’s home bar in Southern California, he has begun venturing out as COVID restrictions are eased. Last week, he took Tiki Trail Live to the cocktail bar Marie’s Tek Tec in Long Beach, where bartender Julio Gutierrez (from Tiki pop-up Chuntikis) mixed up two enticing tropical libations. Featured artist Danielle Mann of Black Lagoon Designs joined live from Australia.
* See past Tiki Trail Live guests, promos: Instagram | Facebook
* Live video: Select past shows on YouTube
It’s not unusual to see artists and musical guests dialing in from far-flung continents on Tiki Trail Live, one of the show’s most endearing features. It shows how truly worldwide the Tiki scene has become. The regular attendees are also an eclectic bunch, often hanging out for “after-show” discussion and fun. It was during one of these after-parties two weeks ago that I reached out to the regulars for their input on a namesake Zombie for the show. The Tiki Trail Zombie is truly a crowd-sourced recipe. This will be The Atomic Grog’s second “Pour-Along” on the show, a follow-up to the Jet Pilot episode in September.
Has it really been 10 years? For a humble blog focused on Tiki culture and cocktails, that’s an eternity. After a decade of existence, we continue to be humbled by the recognition and continued support from peers and supporters. Even so, we hope that the best is yet to come. Special 10th anniversary recipe:Revenge of the Atomic Zombie Cocktail
The Atomic Grog launched in late April 2011 with coverage of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s “Zombie Jamboree” at The Mai-Kai, our participation in the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival’s deadly cocktail competition, our first published cocktail recipe, and lots more …
Now, 447 posts and more than 1 million page views later, it’s time to take a quick look back and offer a big mahalo to everyone and everything that has kept us motivated and writing. That includes all the folks who posted more than 600 comments on the site, overwhelmingly positive and informative.
The first post – on April 25, 2011 – was a Zombie recipe, so it’s fitting that we celebrate the 10th anniversary of this never-say-die blog with a horde of Zombies. While the Mai Tai seems to get all the attention, 10 years later we still maintain that Tiki’s original masterpiece, created by Don the Beachcomber in the 1930s, is the most epochal tropical cocktail. Perhaps it’s apropos that the Zombie never becomes trendy and stays “underground,” but we’d like to see it get more attention.
So in honor of our 10th anniversary, we’ll be posting 10 new Zombie recipes over the next 10 months. We’ve already kicked it off with the Hamilton Zombie, featured in the recent story on the new Zombie blend from Beachbum Berry and Hamilton Rum. It continues today with a reimagining of that first recipe. Get ready for Revenge of the Atomic Zombie Cocktail, even richer and more deadly than the original.
As usual, you’ll be treated to the recipe at the end of this post. Look for new Zombie recipes approximately every month, pushing the envelope of this classic template but remaining true to Donn’s inventive spirit. Unlike the Mai Tai, there’s no controversy in tinkering with the Zombie. We hope to prove this makes it even more enduring and classic. Lots more Zombie lore and discussion to come.
We’re digging up another popular old concept for our 10th birthday: The good old-fashioned Top 10 list. It may be a cliché of the blogosphere and something we’ve avoided for a decade, but there’s nothing wrong with a carefully crafted Top 10. We’ll start with five in this post, with more “Tiki Top 10” lists to come over the next 10 months (and maybe continuing into the future) …
Two of the spirits and Tiki cocktail world’s most respected figures are putting their names on the label of an exciting new release: Beachbum Berry’s Zombie Blend from Hamilton Rum. It’s the first joint rum project for both and is expected to hit stores and bars across America this summer.
Ed Hamilton shows off the label and talks about his new rum project with Beachbum Berry on a Zoom call on May 14.
This deadly elixir is a potent 118-proof blend of spirits from multiple Caribbean islands that seeks to recreate in one bottle the classic combination of three different rums that Don the Beachcomber famously used in his original Zombie recipe in the 1930s. Berry spent more than a decade decoding Donn Beach’s secrets and published the results in his landmark 2007 book, Sippin’ Safari.
The blend was a hands-on passion project for Berry, who tasted and approved every tweak, Hamilton said. “I love the guy, he’s wonderful to work with,” Hamilton said, adding that he felt more than a little pressure to not disappoint him. It was a two-year project that “started well before COVID.”
Hamilton hopes to have ample supplies of the new rum in 1-liter bottles ready for distribution from his New Jersey warehouse by around the time most of us are celebrating the Fourth of July, he said last Friday night in his weekly Zoom happy hour. The blend is done, Hamilton said, and he’s just working with Berry on finalizing the back label. It will feature a revamped Zombie recipe by “the Bum” that shows off the new rum.
Beachbum Berry is the world’s foremost authority on the Zombie cocktail. (Photo by Jonpaul Balak)
Hamilton said he’s happy that his rums are now available in 40 states, and he’s looking forward to a post-COVID boom that should boost his rum sales above 2019 levels. The partnership with Berry certainly won’t hurt.
“The best people to collaborate with are people who know more than you do,” Berry told us via e-mail. “Ed definitely fills that bill. He knows everything about rum, and he has good taste too. That made the whole sourcing and blending process ridiculously easy.”
The union of these two unique brands is a Tiki lover’s dream. Hamilton, founder of the Ministry of Rum website, was a longtime rum expert and author before he became an importer. His company, Caribbean Spirts, brings into the United States rums and other products from across the West Indies with an emphasis on honesty and authenticity.
The hardcover 10th anniversary edition of Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari was published in 2017 by Cocktail Kingdom.
Hamilton’s namesake rums include blends from some of the region’s most respected rum-producing islands. His best sellers include Hamilton 86 and 151 from Guyana, plus gold and black pot-still rums from Jamaica. These styles are Tiki bar staples, and Hamilton’s reasonably-priced and flavorful blends are well-received by bartenders and home enthusiasts alike.
Even if you have all the ingredients, the Zombie is a beast of a drink to make. Not only are there three rums but also multiple juices, syrups and spices that add up to 10 ingredients or more. This can discourage not only novices mixing at home but also high-volume cocktail bars. “We wanted something that works in the bars,” Hamilton said. The goal, he said, is for bartenders to say: “Now I can put a Zombie on the menu.”
For Berry, the Zombie is special “not only because it tastes great, but on a more personal level because it was a ‘lost’ recipe that I discovered, and then decoded, and then published for the first time anywhere in Sippin’ Safari in 2007. And now, 15 years later, I’ve blended a rum for the drink as well. That’s a pretty cool feeling!”
The Atomic Grog had the distinct pleasure of serving up cocktails on Aug. 27 for special guests of artist Mike “Pooch” Pucciarelli at the 20th anniversary party for Altered State Tattoo, the South Florida shop that has gained him a worldwide following for his highly creative ink. See recipes below: Altered State Zombie | Mai Ta-IPA
Mike “Pooch” Pucciarelli gets festive at the party marking the 20th anniversary of his Altered State Tattoo shop.
Respectable Street in downtown West Palm Beach hosted the private bash, which also included a rare performance by Pooch’s hard-rocking band, Ferocious Stones; a lowbrow art marketplace featuring Altered State artists; and a DJ keeping the eclectic tunes flowing during the three-hour party. The Atomic Grog pop-up bar was featured on the back patio along with food by chef Corey Hall.
Pooch opened his modest shop in August 1996 in Lake Worth, funneling his creative energy into a new career as a small business owner. His talent as an artist (and musician) was always evident, with much of his early work centered around his acclaimed hardcore metal band Raped Ape. Pooch quickly became an in-demand tattooist, showcasing his highly original work in national magazines and building a loyal following. A lowbrow art career soon followed, with Pooch’s paintings shown at gallery shows from Los Angeles to Seattle to New York City.
Altered State Tattoo 20th anniversary party at Respectable Street: Kenny 5 (left), Pooch and JC Dwyer kick out the jams with Ferocious Stones. Many guests enjoyed cake, while Dwyer was a two-fisted drinker of Atomic Grog cocktails. (Atomic Grog photos)
The artist’s eye-popping surrealist work includes many exotic images, including Polynesian Tikis, Day of the Dead, and his own unique take on roller coasters. Full disclosure: The Atomic Grog home bar and surrounding walls feature a half-dozen Pooch prints, including Franken Tiki Island. Pooch painted a boomerang table that hangs behind the bar and also gave me this rare Tiki piece he painted. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of his work. I even traveled to his 2005 gallery shows in Seattle and Los Angeles.
Not only is Pooch a major talent in the lowbrow and tattoo art worlds, he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. A seemingly imposing figure, Pooch is actually a gentle giant, literally and figuratively. Nowadays, we typically meet up for cocktails at The Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, sharing our affinity for Tiki culture and exotic libations. Mrs. Hayward and I also often join Mike and Stacy (Mrs. Pooch) at the creative gastropub Sweetwater in Boynton Beach.
Hurricane Hayward mixes up the Altered State Zombie and Mai Ta-IPA during Altered State Tattoo’s 20th anniversary party. (Atomic Grog photos)
Mike “Pooch” Pucciarelli gets festive at the party marking the 20th anniversary of his Altered State Tattoo shop. 
