Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Rum Swizzle
Bermuda's national drink: black and gold rum churned with pineapple and orange juice, lime, sugar syrup, and bitters into a frothy swizzle.
Bermudian · easy · serves 6
prep 5 min · cook 0 min
~151 cal · 1g protein · 17g carbs · 0g fat · 1g fiber · 14g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Often called Bermuda's national drink, the rum swizzle is churned, not shaken, with a swizzle stick cut from the branched twig of the swizzle-stick tree, which whips the drink to a frothy head. The Swizzle Inn in Bailey's Bay claims to have popularised it in the 1930s, using whatever was on the island: local Gosling's rum, a Barbados rum, and the citrus juices to hand.
The defining ingredient is Gosling's Black Seal, Bermuda's own dark rum, blended with a lighter gold rum and a mix of pineapple and orange juice, lime, a little sugar syrup or falernum, and a few dashes of Angostura bitters. Everything is churned over crushed ice until it froths, then poured, ice and all.
Fruity, tart, and dangerously easy, the rum swizzle is the taste of a Bermudian afternoon, and, like all the island's swizzles, every household argues its own proportions are correct. A juice-heavy virgin version keeps the froth without the rum.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
4 oz black rum
4 oz gold rum
5 oz pineapple juice
5 oz orange juice
from 2 lemons or limes fresh lime juice
2 oz sugar syrup, or falernum
6 dashes Angostura bitters
a generous scoop crushed ice
Instructions
1
Pour the rums, pineapple and orange juice, lime, sugar syrup, and bitters into a pitcher over crushed ice.
✎ Chef’s note
Traditional falernum (a spiced syrup) can carry almond, so plain sugar syrup is the nut-free choice here.
2
Churn hard with a swizzle stick or a bar spoon until a frothy head forms.
3
Add more crushed ice to top up the pitcher.
4
Pour into glasses, ice and all, and serve at once.
Hamilton (Swizzle Inn) tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Hamilton. Sherry peppers began as ship's stores. Sailors steeped bird's eye peppers in fortified wine to make food past its best edible, and the bottle stayed on the table long after the reason for it had gone. Cassava pie at Christmas is documented on the island as far back as 1612.
🗺️
Bermuda. Christmas here means cassava pie, a savoury-sweet dish of grated cassava with pork and chicken baked slowly, and the tradition is documented back to 1612. That is early enough that the island's cooking preserves a seventeenth-century Atlantic layer, cassava from the Caribbean and salt cod from the north, that later arrivals never replaced.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bermuda
Codfish and PotatoesBermuda's traditional Sunday plate: salt cod and potatoes with egg, avocado, banana, and a tomato or egg sauce.
Bermuda Banana BreadA dense, moist banana loaf, lightly spiced and buttery, that Bermudians bake for breakfast and afternoon tea alike.
Bermuda Fish SandwichA generous fried fish fillet piled with slaw and tartar sauce on sweet raisin bread, Bermuda's iconic weekend lunch.
Browse all Bermuda recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Bermuda meal
Bermuda Cassava PieDinner
Bermuda Rum CakeDessert
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Rum Swizzle?
Bermuda's national drink: black and gold rum churned with pineapple and orange juice, lime, sugar syrup, and bitters into a frothy swizzle.
Where does Rum Swizzle come from?
Rum Swizzle is a Bermudian dish from Hamilton, Bermuda.
Can Rum Swizzle be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Rum Swizzle recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Rum Swizzle safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Rum Swizzle take to make?
About 5 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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