FIX MY DRINK
Each week in this space, we better our beverages together.
The late American bar impresario Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron used to claim his wooden leg was the result of a shark attack somewhere on the Pacific, and invited customers to stab at it with their cutlery. In reality Bergeron had lost it to childhood tuberculosis. Which is to say that Bergeron never let the truth get in the way of using a rollicking story to sell drinks.
Take the queen’s park swizzle. In his characteristic blunt- and- clunky diction, Bergeron wrote ( in the 1972 edition of the Trader Vic Bartender’s Guide): “If you like to make and drink a real doozer of a rum drink that really is a rum drink, try this. It’s from the Queen’s Park Hotel in Trinidad.”
This may be an example of Bergeron bending the truth. Drink historians believe it’s likely that the deliciously addictive, slushy, bittersweet and powerful beverage was Bergeron’s own creation in whole or in part — but it sounded sexier to claim it was a discovery from the tropics.
I learned all this when Angostura, maker of rums and bitters, invited me down to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago’s capital, to watch a worldwide cocktail competition last month. The Canadian, Jonathan Strokowski Ross, placed third; I’ ll share a very interesting competition drink recipe of his in this space soon. Meanwhile, spectators were treated to an bottomless supply of queen’s park swizzles — previously unfamiliar to me — and I was hooked.
While the swizzle certainly suited the 33C afternoons in Port of Spain, it’s equally welcome at this dreary moment of the Canadian winter. Why not enjoy crushed ice and rum during the height of slush season; a bright and sunny swizzle for the days of cold drizzle?
A swizzle stick, incidentally, is a Caribbean tool, a whittled twig that’s used for mixing drinks using a half-whisking, half-stirring motion. You can buy them online via Cocktail Kingdom. Use a barspoon if you don’t have time for all that. This recipe might look like a doozer, and yes that is a lot of rum, but there are heavier versions out there.
QUEEN’S PARK SWIZZLE
6 mint leaves and one mint sprig 1/2 oz rich simple syrup 3 oz Trinidadian rum crushed ice juice of 1/2 a fresh lime several dashes Angostura bitters spent lime shell, for garnish
Method Place mint leaves, simple syrup and some ice at the bottom of a collins glass and swizzle well. Add rum, then fill glass to the top with crushed ice. Swizzle again. Douse the top of the drink with Angostura to create a rustcoloured surface layer of bitters. Garnish with mint sprig and lime shell, serve with a straw.