Zombie Spritz Recipe
The Zombie's flavour signature — grapefruit, cinnamon, absinthe, a little rum — rebuilt as a low-proof spritz on rosé aperitif wine and Aperol, topped with rosé.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Hurricane glass
- ABV: 12%
- Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- Aperitif wine45 ml (1.5 oz)
- Aperol15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Dark rum7.5 ml (0.3 oz)
- Absinthe1 tsp
- Banana liqueur1 tsp
- Vodka1 tsp
- Grapefruit juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Fresh lime juice7.5 ml (0.3 oz)
- Cinnamon syrup7.5 ml (0.3 oz)
- Angostura bitters2 dash
- Saline solution1 dash
- Rosé wine60 ml (2 oz)
How to Make It
- Add everything except the rosé wine to a shaker with ice.
- Shake briefly, just to chill.
- Strain into a tiki mug or tall curved glass filled with ice.
- Top with chilled rosé wine and stir gently.
- Garnish with a dehydrated grapefruit slice and a mint sprig.
Garnish
Dehydrated grapefruit slice and fresh mint; cocktail umbrella optional
What it tastes like
It smells of lemon and lime peel, fruit notes come forward, it is carbonated, it is low in alcohol and it is layered, giving you something different each sip.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
The curved, tall hurricane glass. Tiki and tropical drinks often run past 200 ml, and this is the shape that holds that volume along with the ice.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Aperol
- The orange aperitif, flavoured with bitter orange and rhubarb. It is Campari's gentler cousin: 11% alcohol, sweeter, far less bitter. Substituting Campari means adding sugar.
- Dark rum
- Barrel-aged dark rum, with molasses, vanilla and treacle in it. Swap in white rum and the drink loses its body, so reach for gold rum instead.
- Absinthe
- The anise spirit, 55-70% alcohol. In cocktails it is used as a rinse rather than a measure: most recipes have you coat the glass and pour the rest away, leaving only the aroma.
- Vodka
- Vodka brings body and alcohol rather than flavour; its job is to get out of the way of everything else. Which is why, in a vodka drink, how fresh the juice is matters far more than the brand.
- Grapefruit juice
- Grapefruit juice. Pink is sweet and soft, white is bitter and sharp — when a recipe does not say which, pink is the safer call.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Cinnamon syrup
- Made by steeping cinnamon sticks in simple syrup. Ground cinnamon clouds the drink and settles at the bottom, which is why it is sticks, steeped and strained.
- Angostura bitters
- The salt of the cocktail world. Measured in dashes, not millilitres: a few of them cut the sweetness and add spice. One bottle lasts years.
- Saline solution
- One part salt to five parts water. A few drops will not make the drink salty; they suppress bitterness and push the fruit forward — the same job salt does in food.
The Story
A modern low-alcohol take on tiki: it borrows the grapefruit-and-cinnamon pairing of the classic Zombie and carries it on wine instead of a stack of rums.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Zombie Spritz mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a hurricane glass.
- How strong is a Zombie Spritz?
- Roughly 12% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Zombie Spritz be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Zombie Spritz hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
The main ingredient here is also a dream symbol: Wine in a dream
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.