Read the ingredients again and pay particular attention to the crushed ice. This is the key to a successful swizzle and we're sorry to say that ice cubes just won't cut it here. Fill your glass half-full with the ingredients and crushed ice, then place your palms on either side of the swizzle stick and use a rubbing motion to spin it. You’re aiming to swirl and chill the glass until a frost forms on the outside, which is only possible with crushed ice. Swirl strong, swirl long, and you'll reap the rewards of your effort with a super-chilled cocktail.
The easiest way to make crushed ice at home is to put ice cubes in a blender, or food processor, and blend them using the pulse setting. You can also fill a ziplock bag with water, freeze it, then run it under hot water. The ice will crack, then you can pulverise the bag with a rolling pin or other solid implement to make crushed ice.
It’s hard not to love swizzles, whether it’s the taste, the process or simply the name. It’s lucky, then, that there are plenty of other swizzle cocktails to experiment with. A Bermuda Rum Swizzle is perhaps the best known, but there are some more experimental examples including the Chartreuse Swizzle and Sailor’s Swizzle. And if you feel like experimenting with this Queen’s Park Swizzle, we always recommend playing around with different kinds of dark rum. It’s easy to forget that dark rum can be as complex and varied as, say, whisky, so altering your rum of choice will have a real impact on the final product. Find your favourite, then share it with your friends!
