Green Swizzle
Swizzle ∙ 3 min ∙ 25.4% ABV ∙
The Green Swizzle is a Caribbean rum swizzle built with two rums, absinthe, falernum, green crème de menthe, and lime, packed over crushed ice. Frosty and bracing, with a cool herbal snap that melts into spiced sweetness, the crushed ice softening a bright, tart edge through a long, lingering finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Pour all ingredients into the chilled glass: White rum 45 mlWhite overproof rum 10 mlAbsinthe 5 mlFalernum liqueur 25 mlCrème de Menthe green 5 mlLime juice 15 ml
- Fill the glass 2/3 full with crushed ice
- Swizzle and then fill the glass with more crushed ice
- Garnish with aromatic bitters drops over the drink’s ice cap and finish with a lime wedge and mint sprigs
Tips
- Pre-chill the glass before building — the drink relies on the swizzle stick and crushed ice for its frost, not a shaker's cold.
- Measure the absinthe and crème de menthe carefully; both are potent and can overpower the rum if poured too heavy-handed.
- Pack the ice in tightly two-thirds up the glass before swizzling so the stick has resistance to whip air through the drink.
History
The Green Swizzle is a Caribbean cocktail of the sour family first documented in the early 1900s, with the earliest written evidence appearing in E.M. Lickfold's 1907 Handbook of Trinidad Cookery as a "Green Cocktail" made with falernum and wormwood bitters, swizzled and finished with Angostura bitters. It is generally thought to have originated around 1900, with two rival hubs for it: the Bridgetown Club in Barbados, considered its probable birthplace, and the Queen's Park Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Angostura's own Carypton, a rum-based mixed drink the company had produced since around 1912, shared several ingredients with the Green Swizzle and was at times treated as equivalent to it.
The drink gained wider fame in the English-speaking world through P.G. Wodehouse's 1924 short story "The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy," in which Bertie Wooster praises the Green Swizzles he drinks at the West Indian stand of the 1924 British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, London, though the story gives no recipe. For decades afterward its exact original formula was contested, with some believing it apocryphal.
The Green Swizzle faded from fashion by the late 1920s and was effectively lost after the wormwood-bitters original became impractical once absinthe-type spirits fell out of favor; a falernum-free version using green crème de menthe surfaced at Havana's Floridita bar. Later bartenders and writers, including Victor Bergeron in his 1972 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide and cocktail historian David Wondrich in a 2007 Esquire recipe, assumed the drink's green color required crème de menthe, an assumption now considered a misreading of the original, since period sources show the color actually came from wormwood bitters. Wondrich corrected this in 2015 after locating a 1908 New York Herald recipe confirming falernum and wormwood bitters as the true ingredients, and in 2011 spirits writer Darcy O'Neil had already reconstructed an approximation of the original using period newspaper accounts from 1890 to 1962. Despite this correction, crème de menthe versions remain the common modern interpretation of the Green Swizzle.
FAQ
What's in a Green Swizzle?
This Green Swizzle is built from two rums (a filtered white rum and a funkier overproof white rum), absinthe, falernum liqueur, green crème de menthe, and fresh lime juice, packed over crushed ice and topped with aromatic bitters, a lime wedge, and mint sprigs.
What makes a swizzle a swizzle?
A swizzle is defined by its build and tool, not its ingredients: the drink is packed with crushed ice and stirred rapidly with a swizzle stick spun between the palms until the glass frosts over. This whips air and fine ice into the drink, chilling it hard while keeping it lightly diluted and topped with a cap of ice.
Why swizzle a cocktail?
Swizzling chills a drink quickly and heavily while folding in just enough meltwater to open up the flavors, without the extra dilution a shake would add. It also builds a frosty ice cap on top of the glass, which keeps the drink cold for longer as it is sipped.
How do you make a swizzle?
Build the ingredients directly in a chilled glass, pack it about two-thirds full with crushed ice, then spin a swizzle stick rapidly between your palms while moving it up and down through the drink until the outside frosts. Top with more crushed ice to form a domed cap before adding the garnish.
