Diki Diki

The Diki Diki is a vintage tiki cocktail with a fun name that puts Swedish Punsch in a starring role. The liqueur is made with rum and infused with citrus and spices, which makes it a bit reminiscent of Velvet Falernum, for those of you who haven’t tried it yet. The original cocktail is made with just three ingredients: Calvados, Swedish punsch and grapefruit juice. It is… just ok. Grapefruit juice can be quite acidic and, while the Swedish punsch has some sweetness to it, it doesn’t have enough to counteract the grapefruit and balance out the cocktail. Like some other vintage recipes, it lacks a bit of the “wow” factor that we like to see in tiki drinks. In short, it needed a remix and we were happy to play around with it a bit.

Diki Diki (original)
1 1/2 oz Calvados
3/4 oz Swedish Punsch
3/4 oz grapefruit juice

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until cold, then strain into a coupe.

Serves 1.

To start with, we decided to add a little bit of rum to give the Calvados some body. The apple brandy is tasty, but even great brands are often best supported by other spirits. We use a splash of Zaya rum (though other aged rums or even a dark rum would work) to draw out the vanilla notes in the Calvados. We also added lemon juice in with the grapefruit to give it some lift, as well as a bit of our spiced simple syrup to take the bitter edge off. The finishing touch was a sugar-rimmed glass, so you get a little extra sweetness with each sip.

The revamped Diki Diki captures the spirit of the original – at least, we think it does! – but is a little bit more interesting. It tastes similar to a Sidecar, but with a bit more spice and complexity.

Diki Diki (revamped)
1 1/2 oz Calvados
1/4 oz dark rum
3/4 oz Swedish Punsch
1/2 oz grapefruit juice
1/4 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz spiced simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until cold, then strain into a sugar-rimmed coupe.

Serves 1.