Park Life Swizzle (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

When I saw that there was an Old Tom Swizzle recipe in the Death & Co. book, I had to try it. I didn't have Ransom, which is what is specified, and rather than using Vitae's mild tasting Old Tom, I went in another direction.

I know that Ransom is very malty and dank, for lack of a better word. So my choice was homemade Schiedam gin with malt whiskey infused with juniper and citrus. It was dank! This is a spicier lime juice swizzle that tastes more tropical than the Robert Johnson Swizzle. The spice comes from Angostura bitters on top, but also the ginger syrup (which I made by adding ginger brandy to my syrup). It smelled incredible. It tasted even better. The problem with swizzles, though, is that they are a pain to make and they don't last long.

Here's how it's done:

• 1 oz.  Ransom Old Tom (homemade Schiedam used)
• 1 oz. amontillado sherry
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. ginger syrup
• 6 dashes Angostura bitters
• mint sprig garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake and pour into a chilled pilsner glass. Add more crushed ice and use a bois lele to stir and chill. Add more ice and continue stirring until the glass freezes over and the contents of the glass reach the top. Dash bitters on the ice and garnish with mint. 

Robert Johnson Swizzle (Death & Co. Recipe)

I have a bois lele (Caribbean swizzle stick) for my birthday and I'm excited to tackle the swizzle section of the Death & Co. cocktail book. Between crushing the ice and meticulous swizzling and freezing the glass, a swizzle is a lot of work. So I started by making some of the easier recipes. 

This recipe is good for people who love bourbon drinks. There's vanilla, whiskey bitters and some cirtus and fortified wine. What's not to like? 

Unfortunately I didn't have the Fee Brothers whiskey barrel-aged bitters, but that's okay considering I had all the rest. I used my vanilla vodka to flavor the simple syrup for the sweetener. And you can taste it just fine under the Peychaud's that you have to dash on top of the ice so that you smell them while sipping through the straw. 

• 2 oz. bourbon (Ancient Age used)
• 3/4 oz. tawny port (ruby used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. vanilla syrup
• 2 dashes whiskey barrel-aged bitters
• 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• mint sprig garnish

Add crushed ice to a chilled Collins glass and the shaking tin. Combine all liquid ingredients in the shaker and shake to chill. Pour into the Collins glass and stir with a bois lele, adding ice and continuing to stir until the glass freezes and the contents of the glass reach the top. Dash bitters on the ice and garnish with the mint. 

 

Swizzles (Jumbly Jolt/ Skye Swizzel)

I've seen this recipe before. A combination of rum, scotch and gin as a swizzle with lime juice? That's a Skye Swizzle. The proportions are a little different, and not to this example's betterment. I ended up with a little too much ice and not enough liquid to spread around. That is perfectly fine, but I'd like the recipe to reflect that an indicate an Old Fashioned glass as the proper container. 

Like all swizzles, you need plenty of crushed ice on hand before you start mixing. I found that freezing the glass first and choosing a glass with thin walls to be very helpful. I tied on the napkin wrap (like my chicken?) first before freezing the glass so that I could take the glass out and start building the cocktail in it. Otherwise, it might be smart to chill the liquids in a shaker. But either way, put the wrap on before you start building the drink.

One final note: I chose my Dutch courage gin for the gin in this cocktail and greatly improved it over past examples that used dry gins. Look for an Old Tom style or Dutch genever like Bols to get the desired effect. My hope was that if all the spirits shared a barreling process, the flavors would come together better. I wasn't wrong!

• 1/2 oz. scotch (Teacher's used)
• 1/2 oz. Jamaican rum (Barbancourt Haitian used)
• 1/2 oz. gin (homemade Dutch courage gin used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. sweet vermouth
• 1 tsp. cherry brandy (Cherry Herring used)
• maraschino cherry garnish

Build the drink in a frozen Collins glass (Old Fashioned with thin walls is preferable if you have one). Add all ingredients except for the cherry garnish and top with crushed ice. Using a swizzle stick, stir to chill the ingredients while melting the ice. As the liquor dilutes and the liquid level rises, add more ice and continue stirring until the glass is frosty and the cocktail is cooled. Add a straw and garnish with a cherry. 

Gin Swizzle

I love a good Swizzle on a hot day. The Gin version of this typically rum drink is no less refreshing. Note the napkin wrap designed for easy gripping when the glass is so cold that it frosts over. Note also the swizzle stick. This is yet another gin cocktail that is built in the glass and requires a lot of stirring, as any Swizzle should.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 2 dashes Angostura bitter
• 1 tsp. sugar
• sparkling water

Combine sugar and lime juice in the bottom of a chilled Collins glass and stir to combine. Add ice and gin and stir to melt ice. Add more ice as necessary to top off and also top with sparkling water. Serve with a swizzle stick.

Chartreuse Swizzle (Smuggler's Cove Recipe)

Let's face it. You love Chartreuse. You need at least 130 botanicals in your alpine spirit. To top it off you need falernum with all that spice and citrus just to make your drink.

Remember to used crushed ice and to put a napkin wrap on the glass. I can't understate how satisfying it is to drink from a frozen glass while holding it by a dry napkin.

• 1 1/2 oz. green chartreuse
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. falernum (homemade falernum used)

Combine all ingredients in a Collins glass wrapped with a napkin. Fill with crushed ice and stir with a Swizzle stick until half the ice melts and the liquid is cooled. Top with more crushed ice and stir again until the glass freezes over.

Kaiteur Swizzle (Smuggler's Cove Recipe)

The Kaiteur Falls in Guyana are a Niagra-scale waterfall on the Caribbean island. The Swizzle may have some of its origins--at least its preparation--in the island itself. The important part of the recipe, however, is the use of Guyana rum like Pusser's. This is a small batch pot still rum with lots of character. It's further spiced by falernum and Angostura bitters.

It is key to a Swizzle to use crushed ice and to stir using a Swizzle stick or bar spoon. Keep up the stirring and adding ice until the glass freezes over.

Another important part of preparation is the napkin wrap. Open a beverage napkin and fold two opposite corners to make an obtuse isosceles triangle. Fold the top of the short side down to create a band. Wrap and tie this band around the glass.

You can see my napkin wrap has chickens on it. Not at all inappropriate when considering that this is a Guyana drink.

• 2 oz. Pusser's Navy rum
• 1/2 oz. Falernum
• 1/2 oz. maple syrup
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters 

Combine all ingredients with crushed ice in a Collins glass. Stir with a Swizzle stick and add more ice. Continue stirring until the outside of the glass frosts over. Garnish with a mint sprig. 

Mount Gay Extra Old Swizzle

With Mount Gay Extra Old rum and these cool swizzle sticks, I wanted to make a classic Dark Rum Swizzle. There's no shaking involved, no blending, no special mugs or garnishes, just good rum, sugar and lime juice. Also, you need plenty of ice.

A good Swizzle is built in the glass with the liquid only filling the glass one quarter full and the ice going all the way to the top. Stir like mad and the drink chills as the ice melts. The sugar dissolves and you have a drink that is half-full of liquid and ice. So top with more ice and stir some more and that level of liquid rises to the top of the glass while the whole glass freezes.

• 2 oz. dark rum (Mount Gay Extra Old rum)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. sugar

Build drink in a Collins glass full of ice. Stir until ice melts half way. Add ice and stir until the glass freezes on the outside.