Queen’s Park Swizzle

Ingredients

Drink

• 60 mlaged Demerara or Trinidadian rum
• 22 mlfresh lime juice
• 15 mldemerara sugar syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
• 10–12fresh mint leaves, plus a bushy sprig to garnish
• Crushed ice, to fill
• 6–8dashes Angostura aromatic bitters

Equipment

• Tall collins or highball glass
• Swizzle stick (bois lélé) or a bar spoon
• Icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Put the mint leaves in the bottom of a chilled collins glass and press them once or twice with the swizzle stick – just enough to release the oils. Shredding them makes the drink taste of grass.
2. Add the lime juice and demerara syrup and stir to dissolve.
3. Fill the glass halfway with crushed ice and pour in the rum.
4. Insert the swizzle stick, hold it upright between flat palms and spin it rapidly back and forth while moving it up and down the glass, about 15–20 seconds.
5. Keep swizzling until the outside of the glass frosts over completely – that frost is the signal that the drink is properly cold and diluted, and it is why the technique exists.
6. Top up with more crushed ice to build a dome above the rim, packing it lightly.
7. Float the Angostura bitters over the top of the ice in a heavy line – they should sit as a distinct red-brown layer, not be stirred in.
8. Slap the mint sprig against your palm to wake it, plant it beside a straw so it sits under the drinker’s nose, dust with icing sugar if you like, and serve immediately.

Technique

• Named for the Queen’s Park Hotel in Port of Spain and popularised in the 1920s; Trader Vic called it the most delightful form of anaesthesia yet given to man.
• A bois lélé is a Caribbean swizzle stick cut from the Quararibea turbinata tree, with a whorl of stubby branches at one end. A bar spoon spun the same way works, but more slowly.
• The bitters are a garnish and an aroma, not a mixer. Dash them last, on top, so the first sip is dominated by spice and mint.

Substitutions

• No demerara syrup? Use rich simple syrup made with soft brown sugar for a similar molasses depth.
• A blend of aged Trinidadian and Guyanese Demerara rum is common; a single funky Jamaican rum makes a much louder drink.

Variations

• The original 1920s recipe was made with Trinidadian rum; many bars now use a split base of Demerara and Jamaican.
• Swizzles are a whole family – the same technique with falernum and lime makes a Bermudan rum swizzle.

History

Made at the Queen’s Park Hotel in Port of Spain in the early twentieth century, using a swizzle stick from the local tree.

Frequently asked questions

What is Queen’s Park Swizzle?

Queen’s Park Swizzle is a cocktail from Trinidad and Tobago: rum, lime, sugar and mint swizzled over crushed ice, dashed with Angostura. Made at the Queen’s Park Hotel in Port of Spain in the early twentieth century, using a swizzle stick from the local tree.

How long does Queen’s Park Swizzle take to make?

Queen’s Park Swizzle takes 5 min of preparation and 2 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 drink. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Queen’s Park Swizzle?

Yes, within limits. No demerara syrup? Use rich simple syrup made with soft brown sugar for a similar molasses depth. A blend of aged Trinidadian and Guyanese Demerara rum is common; a single funky Jamaican rum makes a much louder drink.