The diki-diki is a

cocktail A cocktail is a mixed drink, usually alcoholic beverage, alcoholic. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more liquor, spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, Shrub (drink), shrubs, and ...

made with

calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

, Swedish Punsch, and

grapefruit juice Grapefruit juice is the juice from grapefruits. It is rich in vitamin C and ranges from sweet-tart to very sour. Variations include white grapefruit, pink grapefruit and ruby red grapefruit juice.The World's Healthiest Foods; Grapefruit. ''The G ...

, dating back to the 1920s where it was popular in London's higher-end American bar scene but is now more commonly served as a Tiki drink. The original recipe calls for shaking the ingredients with ice in 2:1:1 proportions, although many later variations have modified the ratio to greater emphasize the calvados as the base ingredient (4:1:1).

Historical origin

Belgian bartender Robert Vermiere is credited with creating the diki-diki, who listed it in his book ''Cocktails: How to Mix Them'', along with a notation that he introduced the cocktail at London's ''Embassy Club'' in February 1922. Fellow cocktail book author Harry MacElhone commented that "this is a very popular cocktail in London" in his 1923 drink manual ''Harry of Ciro's ABC of Mixing Cocktails''. MacElhone's listing employed the more calvados-oriented version with a 4:1:1 ratio. This was also the proportion used in

Trader Vic's Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902 in San Francisco – October 11, 1984 in Hillsborough, California) founded a chain of Polynes ...

''Bartender's Guide'' and Harry Cradock's ''Savoy Cocktail Book ''.

Modern-day usage

The diki-diki is currently served primarily in

Tiki bar A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a rom ...

s, and as an example has been on the drink menu at the

Tiki Ti The Tiki Ti is a Polynesian-themed tiki bar on Sunset Boulevard, in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. Established in 1961 by Ray Buhen, the Tiki Ti's only employees, Mike Sr. and Mike Jr. Buhen are also the sole owners. The establishment is ...

. There is some disagreement over whether the diki-diki should be considered as a true tiki drink. Because of the era it was created in, the diki-diki could not have been considered as an express tiki drink as ''first'' envisioned because the Polynesian inspired tiki craze had not yet started. However, Vermiere did employ an interesting backstory when he created the cocktail by stating that it was named after the "chief monarch of the Island Ubian (Southern Philippines), who is now 37 years old, weighs 23 pounds, and his height is 32 inches". While likely a fictionalisation, there nevertheless was a real life Philippine leader named

Lapulapu Lapulapu (floruit, fl. 1521) or Lapu-Lapu, whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan, an island now part of the Philippines. Lapulapu is known for the 1521 Battle of Mactan, where he and his men defeated Spa ...

, who was responsible for the death of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

and for whom a later tiki drink was named. The Lapulapu cocktail has been served alongside the diki-diki cocktail at the

. The Puka-Puka cocktail, named after the Polynesian atoll "discovered" by

in 1521 is also a tiki drink. As such one may wish to consider the shared folklore of the diki-diki cocktail as an inspiration of sorts for the names of the Lapulapu and Puka-Puka tiki cocktails. Tiki pioneer Victor Bergeron, who named his first restaurant ''Hinky Dinks'', included the recipe for the diki-diki cocktail in his bartender's guide.

References

{{Cocktails Tiki drinks Cocktails with arak Food and drink introduced in 1922 Cocktails with Swedish Punsch Three-ingredient cocktails Cocktails with brandy

Historical origin

Modern-day usage

See also

References