Swizzle

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. By rapid swizzling with fine ice, you'll get a good outside frost. The etymology of the word "swizzle" is unknown. By 1894, bartenders were making them of gin, lime juice and Agnostura bitters.

Sirocco Mixture (David Wondrich)

Recipe from 1859: The tiny archipelago of Malta is 60 miles off the coast of Sicily and right in the path of the sirocco, the wind that periodically blows on southern Europe out of the southeast, bringing with it all the heat and parching dryness of the Sahara desert from which it arises. And fortunately, there was a very fine source of ice, or at least snow, within an easy day’s sail, in the form of Mount Etna, the snow-capped volcano that anchors the east coast of Sicily. Which meant that, when the hot wind was blowing, the thirsty sailor on shore leave could climb the steps that made up San Giovanni street to the establishment maintained by the old Baldacchino brothers and have one of them swizzle up their famous “Sirocco Mixture.” Francis Bennett of the Royal Navy did just that in 1859 and was kind enough to write down the recipe.

Sirocco Mixture
With a vegetable peeler, remove the outer rind from 2 small to medium-sized limes, in long spirals if possible. Muddle the peels in a pint glass with 2 tsp. superfine sugar. Add the juice of the limes, about 1½ to 2 oz. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Fill the glass with finely cracked or shaved ice.

Add:
2 oz. VSOP Cognac
1 oz. Maraska brand maraschino, or ½ oz. if using Luxardo
A goodly grating of nutmeg

Swizzle with a long swizzle stick or barspoon. Add a straw and be cooled.