Cocktails with Donn’s Mix
Donn’s Mix is a tiki cordial of grapefruit juice and cinnamon syrup, usually two parts to one.
How it's used
It is two parts grapefruit juice to one part cinnamon syrup, so it brings acid and spice in one pour. It is Don the Beachcomber’s; Jeff Berry decoded it from the coded notebook of one of Don’s bartenders. Its best-known use is the original 1930s Zombie.
Substitutes for Donn’s Mix
Homemade mix
Mix two parts grapefruit juice with one part cinnamon syrup. For the syrup, simmer 3 crushed cinnamon sticks with 200 g of sugar and 240 ml of water for two minutes, steep at least two hours, and strain.
Cinnamon syrup alone
Won't work. Poured alone for the full measure, it lacks acid and leaves the outcome flat.
Other tiki cordials
Won't work. Falernum, passion fruit syrup, or allspice dram cannot replace the grapefruit and cinnamon combination.
Storage
Keep it in the fridge and use it within a couple of days, since most of it is fresh grapefruit juice. Make it in small batches.
