Bermuda Rum Swizzle

Cold drinks with rum, first identified as “swizzles,” and later as Rum  Swizzles, have been mentioned in literature since the mid 18th century.

The  rum swizzle is often called Bermuda’s national drink. In the earliest  versions, the drink typically consisted of one part of rum diluted with  five or six parts water (sometimes with additional aromatic  ingredients), which was mixed by rotating a forked root stick between  the palms.

American naturalist and writer Frederick Ober noted in  1920 the drink of the Barbados ice houses called the swizzle, was a  combination of liquors, sugar, and ice whisked to a froth by a rapidly  revolved "swizzle-stick" made from the stem of a native plant, perhaps  Quararibea turbinata (the "swizzle stick tree") or an allspice bush.

Here’s  the recipe I like to think the Albouys served in their parlour when  Nick and Tara were their guests in the summer of 1817 in Wind Raven, 3rd  in the Agents of the Crown trilogy:

Ingredients

• 2 ounces dark rum

• Juice of two limes

• ½ cup fresh pineapple juice

• ½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice

• Sugar syrup to taste with a just a hint of fresh ginger

• Stick from an allspice bush to “swizzle”

You  put the allspice stick in a glass filled with ice and other ingredients  and then rotate the stick between your palms so the root end spins back  and forth, churning your drink. This action helps to froth and chill  the drink!