Bermuda's National Drink, Rum Swizzle

This punch-like drink is the national drink of Bermuda, although interestingly, recipes vary. It is commonly made in pitchers for multiple servings, but I've put together this recipe for one drink. The drink got its name from the "traditional" use of a swizzle stick twirled between the palms of the maker's hands to mix the drink. Originally, the "swizzle sticks" used were small twigs from the "Quararibea turbinata," a type of fragrant, flavorful tree common on many islands of the Caribbean. The tree has long been called the "Swizzlestick Tree," and from what I understand, the twig gave off some of its flavor to the drink, something that was later replaced by angostura bitters. In Bermuda the drink is still often made with a swizzle stick, but some people use a shaker or an immersion blender (stick blender) or some just stir it with a spoon. Damn, what a novel idea!     

Don't get scared or turned off when you see "simple syrup," because it is appropriately named, and it is just equal parts of sugar and water, with the water heated and the sugar stirred in and completely dissolved in the hot water, then cooled. It is a common ingredient to sweeten cocktails.

 

Ingredients (per drink): 

 

1 ounce dark rum

1 ounce golden rum

2 ounces pineapple juice

2 ounces orange juice

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 or 3 dashes of angostura bitters

1 1/2 tablespoons simple syrup 

cherry and/or orange slice can be used for garnish

ice

tall glass, 10 to 12 ounces

Mix all main ingredients well over just one or two ice cubes, then add more ice and garnish with a cherry or two or also with a slice of orange.

 

That is NOT an olive on the cocktail pick, that is simply a decorative piece by the manufacturer ...  

WORD HISTORY:

Ere (Erst, as in 'erstwhile')-The word "ere," primarily used as a preposition, but also as a conjunction, is closely related to "early," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Ere" goes back to Indo European "ayeri/aieri," meaning "morning, day," which then gave its Old Germanic offspring "airi" meaning "early" (comparative "airiz," meaning "earlier"), and this gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "ær," meaning "early, before." This then became "er," and then "ere." The Old English superlative form was "ærest," meaning "earliest, first," and it came from the Old Germanic form "airist," meaning "earliest, first, highest." Old English "ærest" then became "erst(e)" and then "erst." In the past, the forms of the word shared usage with forms of the actual word "first," but that word then came into dominant use for that meaning. In more modern times, "erst" is most common in the adverb/adjective compound "erstwhile" (adverb meaning: formerly, adjective meaning: former, onetime). Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "eher" (earlier, sooner, rather/quite), but also, the conjunction "ehe" (before), Low German has "ehr/ehrder" (earlier, sooner), West Frisian "earder, ear't" (earlier), Dutch "eer" (before, early) and comparative "eerder" (earlier). The North Germanic languages apparently do not have forms, although their ancestor, Old Norse, had "ar" (early).   

Caribbean Rum Punch

Punch, with or without alcohol, is generally something that is for multiple servings which can be prepared in a pitcher. Lots of Caribbean flavors here. 

 

Ingredients (4 to 5 servings):

 

4 ounces light rum

4 ounces dark rum

2 ounces coconut rum

8 ounces pineapple juice

8 ounces orange juice

4 ounces mango nectar/juice

4 ounces Sprite or club soda

2 ounces fresh lime juice

2 ounces grenadine 

1 cup ice 

4 or 5 tall glasses (8 to 12 ounce glasses)

Add all the ingredients to a pitcher, except the club soda or Sprite, stir well, then add the soda/Sprite, stir again. You can certainly mix the punch in a pitcher without the ice, then distribute the ice to individual serving glasses and pour the punch into the ice-filled glasses.

WORD HISTORY:

Fletch (Fletcher)-A variant pronunciation, and thus spelling, of the verb form of "fledge"^ that developed in the 1600s, but under the heavy influence of the noun "fletcher," which is also related to "fledge," and a word borrowed as "fleccher" in the early 1300s from French "flechier," meaning "arrow maker" (French "fleche" means "arrow" ), as an arrow is a shaft or rod with "feathers on the end" (the connection with "fledge"). French got the word by absorbing the form from a close cousin of English, Germanic Frankish (flegja??). I don't know about England, and the rest of the English speaking world, but "fletch" and "fletcher" are not common words in American English, although "Fletcher" is sometimes heard as both a family name and as a given name: from the mid 1980s until the mid 1990s, British actress Angela Lansbury played the character "Jessica Fletcher" on the popular CBS television series "Murder, She Wrote."^^ "Fletcher Christian" was part of the crew of the ship "HMS Bounty," the subject of books and three major films. I also knew a man here in Cleveland with the given name "Fletcher." 

 

^ For the history of "fledge," it is included at the bottom of this article: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2022/06/shirley-temple-mocktail.html

 

^^ Lansbury was born in England, and her father was English and her mother was from Northern Ireland. In the television series, "Fletcher" is Jessica's married name from her deceased husband Frank. 

The Pussyfoot Rum Cocktail

While the recipe below is what I use, I first learned of this drink from a book I've owned for many years: "Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide" (revised), Trader Vic (Victor Bergeron), Doubleday and Company, Garden City, NY 1972 

The word "pussyfoot" naturally developed from the notion of how a cat walks; thus, "tread softly, cautiously, stealthily." It also then developed the figurative meaning, "to speak indirectly about a difficult subject, to speak cautiously," and as such, it is similar to the expression, "to beat around the bush." I don't hear it much today, but a former boss used it a lot, and that was over ... ah, 50 weeks ago? Over 50 months ago? Okay, over 50 years ago. I'm not sure why this drink was given this name. I'm not one to like tart or outright sour drinks or foods, so if you're like me, you can sweeten this a bit with some sugar, or cut the amount of lime juice. When blended, the cream will provide a fluffy kind of topping to the cocktail.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 ounces white (light-colored) rum
2 ounces heavy cream
3 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces fresh lime juice
2 ounces cherry juice 
1/3 cup ice (or add crushed ice after blending)
maraschino cherry and partial pineapple slice or lime slice for garnish 

Add all but garnish to blender, blend for about 30 seconds. Pour into a tall glass


With lots of crushed ice ....

 Also with crushed ice ....

With crushed ice and topped with a maraschino cherry ...

Blended with ice, slice of lime garnish ...

WORD HISTORY:
Look-The ultimate origin of this common word is unknown. It "could" be a West Germanic invention, as forms are not present throughout the Germanic languages, but rather only in the West Germanic languages, where the word has only "prospered" in English. Likewise, there are no "certain" relatives outside of Germanic, although Celtic has some possible connections. This makes sense, as the West Germanic dialects were in frequent contact with Celtic, including Gaulish and Brittonic (the Celtic dialects of Britain), and for instance, Welsh "llygad" means "eye." West Germanic had "lok(i)jan," meaning "to see, to look upon." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "locian" (long 'o'), meaning, "to look, to gaze," and the extended meaning, "to take or pay heed (to someone or something)," and to this day we say, "look after someone or something;" that is, "give care or help to, to watch over." "Locian" then became "lokien," then "loken," before the modern form. Relatives in the West Germanic languages: German has "lugen" (once spelled "luogen"), it is still around, but of limited usage; Low German once had "loken," Dutch has "loeken," like the German form, it is still around, but not commonly used, West Frisian has "lôkje/lokje" (?). The noun form in English meaning "the act of looking" goes back to late Old English, and the noun form meaning, "the appearance of a person," as in, "He has that look about him," goes back to the late 1300s, with the plural "looks" also used for "a person's appearance," dating to the mid 1500s.    

Tequila Drink: Bahia Breeze Cocktail

This cocktail is easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 ounces golden tequila
4 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces cranberry juice
ice
lime garnish

Fill a tall glass about two-thirds of the way with ice. Add the golden tequila, pineapple juice and cranberry juice. Garnish with lime.

WORD HISTORY:
Halm-This word, also spelled "haulm," is distantly related through Indo European to "calamari." It goes back to Indo European "kolehmos," which meant "reed;" thus also, "grain shaft, stem, stalk."  This gave Old Germanic "halma," with the same meanings.^ This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "healm," meaning, "stalk of a plant, straw." This then became "halm." At some point, the word also took on the meaning "part of a horse collar or harness," but why is unclear. German has "Halm," meaning, "stem/stalk of a plant, straw," but which is also often used as a shortened form of "Trinkhalm;" that is, "drinking straw"), Low German "Halm," meaning, "plant stem or stalk," Dutch "halm," meaning "plant stalk or stem," Icelandic "hálmur," meaning, "straw," Danish, Norwegian and Swedish "halm," all meaning, "straw." English also has the term "culm" for "the hollow stalk of a flowering cereal plant," but this is a term pretty much confined to botanists. It is from Latin "culmus," meaning, "plant stalk," which Latin borrowed from Greek and which has the same Indo European ancestor as English "halm/haulm."  

^ The Germanic pronunciation emphasized the "h" sound, while Greek, which also had a form of the word, emphasized the "k."

Blue Hawaiian Cocktail

This cocktail was invented in the late 1950s in what was still the United States Territory of Hawaii. It was in August of 1959 that Hawaii became the 50th state. There are variations to recipes for this cocktail.

Ingredients (per drink):

1 1/2 ounces light/white rum
1 ounce blue curaçao
2 ounces pineapple juice
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce cream of coconut
pineapple and a cherry for garnish

Mix together the rum, blue curaçao, pineapple juice, lemon juice and coconut cream; pour into an ice filled glass. Garnish with one or two pieces of pineapple and a cherry.

WORD HISTORY:
Ocular-This word is related to "eye," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Ocular" goes back to Indo European "okew/okw," which meant, "to see." This gave Latin the noun "okulus," which meant, "eye." This produced the adjective "ocularis," meaning, "belonging to, or having to do with the eyes." This was borrowed into English as "ocular" in the early part of the 1500s.