Rum Swizzle - History

History

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 a special forked stick made from a root between the palms; another account describes it as spruce beer with added rum and sugar.

In his 1909 book, Beverages, Past and Present: An Historical Sketch of Their Production, Brotherhood Winery owner Edward R. Emerson asserted that Rum Swizzles originated on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts. American naturalist and writer Frederick Albion Ober noted in 1920 that the great drink of the Barbados ice houses was the swizzle, 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 "swizzlestick tree") or an allspice bush. The etymology of the word "swizzle" is unknown, but it may derive from a similar beverage known as switchel.

Rum Swizzles were the drink of choice at what was purportedly the world's first cocktail party held in London, England in 1924 by novelist Alec Waugh. A reference to a (possibly fictitious) "Green Swizzle" drink dates to 1925 (see "Other Swizzles" below). The Rum Swizzle is also mentioned in Sinclair Lewis's 1925 novel Arrowsmith, which is set in the fictional Caribbean island of St. Hubert. In 1930, the drink was referenced in a book written by Joseph Hergesheimer, which refers to the drink containing Bacardi rum and bitters, as well as a swizzle stick made of sassafras. The Rum Swizzle was also mentioned in the 1931 autobiographical novel Half a Loaf, penned by Sinclair Lewis's former wife Grace Hegger Lewis about their life together.

Today the Rum Swizzle is often associated with The Swizzle Inn of Bailey's Bay, Bermuda, whose motto is "Swizzle Inn, Swagger Out." The Swizzle Inn is known as "the home of the Rum Swizzle" and Bermuda's oldest pub, favourite drinking hole of island resident Michael Douglas As noted by the Bermuda Hotel Association:

The Swizzle Inn pub sold its first Rum Swizzle in 1932 and the rest, as they say, is history...Now it's the perfect place to whet your whistle with our national drink: the potent Rum Swizzle! —