Rum Swizzle Cocktail

If you’ve never tasted the rum swizzle before, you are in for a treat. If I were to describe what it tastes like, I would say it has the flavor of a Mai Tai.

It’s fruity, rummy and oh so yummy.

During my research, I found out the rum swizzle is Bermuda’s national drink.

The swizzle sticks origin

Did you know that the swizzle stick originally appeared in the Caribbean islands? People used to break off little branches from the Quararibea turbinata tree. Then, they would take these small branches with many little fingers of wood sticking out of them and stir their drinks. Those branches became known as swizzle sticks, and the tree became known as the swizzle tree.

People used to place the wood between their palms and briskly rub, causing the stick to rotate in the drink. All those little fingers used to swirl around and do a great job mixing the cocktail. They called it swizzling.

It’s a fun word, isn’t it?

Helpful tips

• Use a dark and light rum for best results. The dark rum gives you a nice color, and the white (or gold) rum evens out the heaviness of the dark rum.
• Gosling’s rum is the dark rum I use. It is robust, flavorful, and consistently delicious in any cocktail. I would usually use Goslings gold rum but I felt like using my Barcardi.
• For best results, use orange juice without pulp.
• If you make one rum swizzle cocktail, you can make it in a cocktail shaker instead of the big receptacle, but just know, that everyone would love one, so make more than one.
• Double the recipe if you want to make a big pitcher for lots of guests.
• I’m using ice cubes because I prefer them, but if you like crushed ice, you can use that instead. Just know it will water down your cocktail.
• Use a few different shaped glasses as it shows the cocktail off in fun ways.
• There are different ways to garnish this cocktail. I choose to use slices of an orange but you can also use a pineapple wedge.

Pre-step

Fill a glass mixing bowl with 2 cups of ice. Get a measuring glass, bar spoon, and glassware.

After measuring out the ingredients, add them to the mixing bowl.

Step one

Gather the ingredients – dark rum, light rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, and bitters. (A)

Step two

Measure 3 ounces of Goslings black seal rum. (B)

Step three

Measure 3 ounces white rum. (C)

Step four

Measure 6 ounces of orange juice. (D)

Step five

Measure 6 ounces of pineapple juice. (E)

Step six

Measure 1/2 ounce of grenadine. (F)

Step seven

Stir the mixture with a cocktail spoon.

Step eight

Add ice to the glasses. Divide and pour the liquid between the three glasses.

Step nine

Shake 4 dashes of Angostura Bitters in each cocktail.

Step ten

Cut two thin orange wheels in half and cut the rind off one. (That’s the piece that will go in the drink.) Add an orange slice to the rim of each glass.

Since I don’t have a swizzle stick tree in my backyard, so I can’t use an authentic swizzle stick, I add the cocktail stirrers that I had.

Let’s look at the vertical view.

Yummy.

I hope you enjoyed this rum swizzle cocktail recipe.

Are there any rum drinks you’d love for me to make? Let me know by leaving me a comment.