Rum Swizzle

A rum swizzle is a rum-based cocktail often called "Bermuda's national drink". The Royal Gazette has referred to it as "the legendary Rum swizzle...perfect for sharing and irresistible to locals and tourists alike". In addition to providing the "swizzle" portion of the 1933 swizzle stick product name, it has been said that this potent cocktail is "as much a part of Bermuda Island culture and cuisine as is the Bermuda onion, the vibrant hibiscus, or the graceful Bermuda Longtail." Different bartenders have varying interpretations of this drink. One of the older recipes was presented in the 1941 Old Mr. Boston De Luxe Official Bartender Guide. Gosling's Rum, which is based in Bermuda, publishes a recipe with two different rums from their brand line. Rum, fruit juice , and a flavored sweetener such as falernum or grenadine are the most consistent ingredients, and the drink is generally shaken or stirred with ice. Icy drink mixtures with rum, first identified as swizzles and later as rum swizzles, have been mentioned in literature in a variety of locations since the mid 18th century: Fort Ticonderoga, New York (1760), the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts (1838), Bridgetown, Barbados (1841), Great Britain (1862), Bridgeport, Barbados (1908), and the island of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands (1911). In these 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 between the palms of the hands a special forked stick made from a root; another account describes it as spruce beer with added rum and sugar.

Source: Wikipedia