Ingredients

  • 2 ozaged rum
  • 1 ozfresh lime juice
  • ¾ ozdemerara syrup
  • 8 leavesfresh mint
  • 3 dashesangostura bitters

🔧 Tools

muddlerjiggerbar spoon

Instructions

  1. Gently muddle mint leaves in the bottom of a collins glass.
  2. Add rum, lime juice, and demerara syrup.
  3. Fill the glass three-quarters full with crushed ice.
  4. Using a swizzle stick or bar spoon, swizzle by spinning rapidly between your palms until the outside of the glass frosts.
  5. Top with more crushed ice to form a dome.
  6. Add several dashes of Angostura bitters on top so they slowly seep through the ice.
  7. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig and serve with a straw.

📜 History

This cocktail originated at the Queens Park Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad, during the 1920s. The hotel served as a social hub for colonial society, and this drink became its signature. The recipe showcases the swizzle technique—a method unique to the Caribbean where a wooden stick with pronged ends is rapidly spun between the palms to mix and chill the drink. The layered construction, with bitters floating on top to seep through gradually, influenced many later tiki creations.

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