For my Savannah friends, I’ll admit the word “daiquiri” evokes a vision of River Street’s Wet Willies and their dozens of whirling slushie machines. Little did I know that in reality, a true daiquiri is a classic and balanced cocktail driven by a traditional Caribbean rhyme – “One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.” The Aku Aku is a classic tropical play on the daiquiri, created by Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron as a direct, riff-style adaptation of Don the Beachcomber’s famous 1930s cocktail, the Missionary’s Downfall itself a daiquiri variant. Trader Vic officially first published the recipe in his 1972 Bartender’s Guide, swapping out honey and lemon for demerara and Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice,
Also known as the “Papa Doble,” the mythology suggests that Ernest Hemingway asked for this spec at Havana’s El Floridita bar. He was said to have consumed sixteen of these at one sitting. The man was a monster!
For the Freydis, I used a liberated bottle of 1960s-era Scandinavian aquavit from my in-laws house. It adds a decidedly sharp caraway/rye undertone to the flavor party.
This is a riff on the French Martini using French berry liqueur alongside the unaged funk of Jamaican overproof rum and grassy notes from French-style rhum agricole. It’s a flavor bomb.
