Most tropical drinks boil down to rum, sugar and lime. Add a few funky syrups and liqueurs, however, and they take on that distinct spiced-but-sweet flavor that is the essence of tiki. Falernum is one of the great granddaddies of tiki liqueurs. It’s the secret sauce that takes a frosty sweet umbrella drink and gives it depth and subtlety.

Used in classics like the Zombie, Pearl Diver, and Three Dots and a Dash, falernum is rum infused with almonds, lime zest, ginger and spices. Non-alcoholic falernum syrup like Fee Brothers is often used to give drinks a bright flavor hit, but the liquored up version does the job even better. Adding alcohol also keeps your precious tiki juice from going bad.

While Velvet Falernum is commercially available, making your own isn’t difficult and offers exponentially fresher flavor. And its ingredients can be found at any grocery store. The only hitch is that once you have it assembled, it has to sit for two days before you can use it.

Falernum #9:

This modified recipe was adapted from the Falernum #9 recipe in Jeff Berry’s Beach Bum Berry Remixed.