1924—1925 The Origin Of The Zombie Cocktail

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Alois, at that time a well-known figure of the American underworld, and his crime organization searched for new sources of bootleg alcohol for the American market. In 1925 he was sent to Jamaica to establish contact with local rum producers. One afternoon, at the Mandeville Hotel where he was staying, he met a man in a straw hat. Several glasses later, they made a spontaneous agreement on smuggling alcohol into the USA. To celebrate the deal, in a state of advanced drunkenness, Alois made his favourite drink made of three portions, equal in amount, of three various types of rum and other additional ingredients. The following morning, still three sheets into the wind, he rushed back to Chicago with the good news, not knowing that the man in the hat was none other than Don the Beachcomber. Later, Beachcomber improved Alois's recipe and introduced it as his own drink under the name Zombie.