Looking for DYC in a Spanish Bar
Based on a poorly-controlled, roundly unscientific study that I’ve conducted over the past six years, the most popular liquor here in Spain seems to be Dyc. Dyc is a Scotch-style whiskey—albeit one that’s a far cry from Glenlivet or The Macallan.
It is typically guzzled in disturbing quantities by twenty-something Spanish men. It’s also my favorite example of a Spanish/English false cognate. Why? Because this product’s name is pronounced “deek.”
That’s right…“deek!”
Why-oh-why some misguided marketing executive decided to name a brand of whiskey after the English slang word for male genitalia is beyond me. Perhaps he viewed globalization as passing fad. But it gets worse. When Spaniards place their orders with a bartender, they don’t ask for “Dyc.” No…they ask for “Whiskey Dyc.”
Spelled differently but pronounced the same, the term “whiskey Dyc” in English slang means—are you ready for this?—alcohol-induced impotence. Ironic, isn’t it? That which Spanish men routinely request, their English-speaking counterparts routinely deny.
But enough about philology. Let’s move on to mixology.
To put it diplomatically, Dyc’s flavor-profile doesn’t lend itself to being consumed “neat.” But those young Spanish males are a clever bunch, and they’ve found an ingenius way of enjoying all of Dyc’s alcohol with none of its flavor. They mix it with…Coca-cola.
Coca-cola!
Let me be clear about this. Dyc and Coke is not some obscure concoction that is only drunk by the lunatic fringe. No…it is, in fact, a mind-bogglingly popular cocktail amongst Spanish men.
Here’s how to make one for yourself at home. If you can’t find Dyc at your local liquor store—and if you can, then you should definitely complain to management!—then you may substitue any $4-6 bottle of blended Scotch whiskey found sitting on the bottom shelf.
DYC AND COKE (EN EL ESTILO ESPAŃOL)
1 bottle of Dyc whiskey
1 8 oz. bottle of Coca-cola
1 tall, thin, straight bar glass (called a “tubo” in Spain)
Several ice cubes.Step 1: Fill tubo glass with ice.
Step 2: Pour Dyc into the ice-filled glass until it’s 50-75% full. That’s not a typo. I said 50-75% full. Spanish bartenders don’t subscribe to the “two-fingers” school of mixology. Nope…in Spain, you get the whole friggin’ hand!
Step 3: Top-off the glass with Coke…then give the car keys to your girlfriend.
Wow…I thought I was the only one who noticed that drink when I studied abroad in Madrid back in 1998. They are still asking for whisky DYC there? Now how about this cocktail’s disgusting counterpart…calimocho.