This is an underrated vessel for trying different rums, IMO. I know most people swear by the Daiquiri and/or Mai Tai, but especially with an aged rum, the Queen's Park Swizzle works great too.
When I make a Queen's Park Swizzle, when I serve it (place it in front of myself since no one drinks with me) I layer it just because it looks neat. After appreciating it for a moment, I give it a good stir before enjoying it.
I love love love this type of content!! You’ve obviously researched everything very very well AND you add a personal reasoning that I 💯 % agree with. This has been our goto swizzle for .. well since Smugglers Cove came out and it is super interesting to see your take on it. Very happy to use your work as an excuse to put even more rum in it 😊
Only two dashes wouldn't do much to color the drink, even if the rum was white and the Ango floated. So incorporation certainly seems to be the right call for the Vic's recipe. Agree more Ango is better here, if you like and are familiar with it.
Apart from the visual appeal, I don't understand making a drink in layers. That means every sip tastes different. And I'm not talking about evolution of flavors, say, in a Scotch. I'm talking about getting a different ingredient in every sip. And I don't want to work to stir a drink when it's served to me. (Grumpy old man signing off now...)
The only drink I have ever seen layers be functional is in a pouse cafe. Def try it’s good. I forget but also the peaty scotch top of a penicillin. We are mixologists though, not stack-in-layers-without-mixing-ologists. Reminds me of rainbow shots. Gotta love a shot of full grenadine haha
Thanks for covering one of my favorite cocktails. I started out making this cocktail with light rums and a heavy float, but i've since transitioned to almost only using good aged mixers like Hamilton 86 and Appleton and splitting my bitters between swizzling in and floating. Not as pretty for sure, but I drink them way too fast to spend time admiring it
Fantastic video as always. I really like the "5 Minutes of Rum endorsed version" version of this drink. Simple to put together and get´s you 90% of the way.
This along with the Mai Tai and Corn and Oil are my favorite Rum drinks. I love the simplicity of making them. I tend to use an aged Barbados Rum for the QPS and the Angostura float. Visuals matter. It’s the first interaction when eating or drinking something. The expectation is that the drink is fruitier than it actually is but, in my experience, people are surprised but not disappointed when they taste it. It’s a way to have someone try a spirit-forward drink who might not otherwise.
I appreciate you seeking the authentic recipes of tiki cocktails. Especially tiki cocktails has been subject to changes and revisions throughout the years. Can the average cocktail enthusiast recreate the original Mai Tai? No, but we can come close through informative sources such as your channel and other media. However there's a balance to these things. I am sure many people saw another youtubers QPS video because of a thumbnail which had a striking cocktail. And started drinking this cocktail. To me it was a cocktail which let me experience with swizzles in general, which also opened my eyes to more fringy rums. My point is that documenting the history is great and important. But we should go easy on using it for gatekeeping - not saying you do. But these comment sections can go off the rails. And angostura as a float? Why the heck not? Presentation is often highlighted in tiki. And we add floats all the time to other cocktails. Just to add fuel to the fire, I subbed the angostura bitters in the "modern mojito-like version" of QPS with Grenadine for my girlfriends QPS. She's just not into all those dashes of bitters. Besides all that, great video as always Derek. ❤
Does anyone know the song used during the Making Queen's Park Swizzle section? It's stuck in my head, I love it and want to play it when I do tiki drinks with my gf!
Just another FYI, there is an area in Trinidad called Queen’s Park, Savannah in I believe the capital Port of Spain where a famous steel band competition called panorama takes place just before lent each year. I’m not from there so don’t quote me.
I would always present this drink with a float. It's more visually striking for the recipient, and in a crushed-ice service, I always serve with a straw, so the drinker can stir it up, or not, as they see fit after they take their Instagram photo. The only way I'd stir the Ango in(which is likely how I'd drink it) is if it were requested, or if I were serving a regular that I noted always stirred it in on previous drinks. You aren't taking anything away with the float, but you are removing an option from your guest by mixing it in. Then again, unless I'm serving a 'History of Cocktails' event, I don't care much about historical accuracy in the drinks I pour, aside from in conversation with a guest.
This is exactly how I make my Mojitos, minus the Ango. Soda water isn't necessary after the dilution from swizzling. I'm sure Mojito purists would say that it isn't a Mojito, but that's their problem.
adding the angostura float seems sensible and reasonable, but using only white rum seems to compromise things for the sake of a unique but not particularly appetizing "look"
Well it’s both modern and historic. The float was historically used in other cocktails that pre dating this one. Whether the modern float came organically or from copying historical recipes is the unknown.
This is an underrated vessel for trying different rums, IMO. I know most people swear by the Daiquiri and/or Mai Tai, but especially with an aged rum, the Queen's Park Swizzle works great too.
💯
You are taking your rightful place amongst great cocktail historians like David Wondrich, Jeff Beachbum Berry, and Matt Pietrek. Great video.
When I make a Queen's Park Swizzle, when I serve it (place it in front of myself since no one drinks with me) I layer it just because it looks neat. After appreciating it for a moment, I give it a good stir before enjoying it.
I love love love this type of content!! You’ve obviously researched everything very very well AND you add a personal reasoning that I 💯 % agree with.
This has been our goto swizzle for .. well since Smugglers Cove came out and it is super interesting to see your take on it. Very happy to use your work as an excuse to put even more rum in it 😊
Only two dashes wouldn't do much to color the drink, even if the rum was white and the Ango floated. So incorporation certainly seems to be the right call for the Vic's recipe. Agree more Ango is better here, if you like and are familiar with it.
I had no idea that Angostura bitters were rum based. I thought it was just an amalgamation of bitter chemicals haha
Great timing! I just got a swizzle stick :)
This is 1 of my favorites!!! I've always mix in 5-8 dashes of bitters
Apart from the visual appeal, I don't understand making a drink in layers. That means every sip tastes different. And I'm not talking about evolution of flavors, say, in a Scotch. I'm talking about getting a different ingredient in every sip. And I don't want to work to stir a drink when it's served to me. (Grumpy old man signing off now...)
The only drink I have ever seen layers be functional is in a pouse cafe. Def try it’s good. I forget but also the peaty scotch top of a penicillin. We are mixologists though, not stack-in-layers-without-mixing-ologists. Reminds me of rainbow shots. Gotta love a shot of full grenadine haha
@@thomasdavis8049 aesthetics ARE functional you phillistines
@@socialswine3656 not when they get the way of flavor
Thanks for covering one of my favorite cocktails. I started out making this cocktail with light rums and a heavy float, but i've since transitioned to almost only using good aged mixers like Hamilton 86 and Appleton and splitting my bitters between swizzling in and floating. Not as pretty for sure, but I drink them way too fast to spend time admiring it
Fantastic video as always. I really like the "5 Minutes of Rum endorsed version" version of this drink. Simple to put together and get´s you 90% of the way.
Funny , I made some Queens park swizzles for my wife and I earlier today. I make them both ways, and they pair well with good maduro or corojo Cigar.
This along with the Mai Tai and Corn and Oil are my favorite Rum drinks. I love the simplicity of making them. I tend to use an aged Barbados Rum for the QPS and the Angostura float. Visuals matter. It’s the first interaction when eating or drinking something. The expectation is that the drink is fruitier than it actually is but, in my experience, people are surprised but not disappointed when they taste it. It’s a way to have someone try a spirit-forward drink who might not otherwise.
Great video!
I appreciate you seeking the authentic recipes of tiki cocktails. Especially tiki cocktails has been subject to changes and revisions throughout the years.
Can the average cocktail enthusiast recreate the original Mai Tai? No, but we can come close through informative sources such as your channel and other media.
However there's a balance to these things. I am sure many people saw another youtubers QPS video because of a thumbnail which had a striking cocktail. And started drinking this cocktail.
To me it was a cocktail which let me experience with swizzles in general, which also opened my eyes to more fringy rums.
My point is that documenting the history is great and important.
But we should go easy on using it for gatekeeping - not saying you do. But these comment sections can go off the rails.
And angostura as a float? Why the heck not? Presentation is often highlighted in tiki. And we add floats all the time to other cocktails.
Just to add fuel to the fire, I subbed the angostura bitters in the "modern mojito-like version" of QPS with Grenadine for my girlfriends QPS. She's just not into all those dashes of bitters.
Besides all that, great video as always Derek. ❤
I like layering so you can choose when to get the ango hit, and make the drink evolve ❤
Great historical deep dive. 👍
Does anyone know the song used during the Making Queen's Park Swizzle section? It's stuck in my head, I love it and want to play it when I do tiki drinks with my gf!
I don't have the song names memorized but everything should be able to be found through shazam
Just another FYI, there is an area in Trinidad called Queen’s Park, Savannah in I believe the capital Port of Spain where a famous steel band competition called panorama takes place just before lent each year. I’m not from there so don’t quote me.
I would always present this drink with a float. It's more visually striking for the recipient, and in a crushed-ice service, I always serve with a straw, so the drinker can stir it up, or not, as they see fit after they take their Instagram photo. The only way I'd stir the Ango in(which is likely how I'd drink it) is if it were requested, or if I were serving a regular that I noted always stirred it in on previous drinks. You aren't taking anything away with the float, but you are removing an option from your guest by mixing it in.
Then again, unless I'm serving a 'History of Cocktails' event, I don't care much about historical accuracy in the drinks I pour, aside from in conversation with a guest.
This is exactly how I make my Mojitos, minus the Ango. Soda water isn't necessary after the dilution from swizzling. I'm sure Mojito purists would say that it isn't a Mojito, but that's their problem.
adding the angostura float seems sensible and reasonable, but using only white rum seems to compromise things for the sake of a unique but not particularly appetizing "look"
I’ll do it all in a shaker, double strain over fresh ice. More flavor and no mint or lime coming up the straw
No rum balls in this video?
We classier over here.
I think it's weird that the thumbnail is different depending on the viewing device.
Modern day TH-cam
The float must definitely be a modern flair. Trader Vic wouldn't have had a float, as he was using a dark rum anyway.
Well it’s both modern and historic. The float was historically used in other cocktails that pre dating this one. Whether the modern float came organically or from copying historical recipes is the unknown.
when did you switch from "consider subcribing" to "subscribe to this channel?"
1941
I have no idea
I don't mind the layered drink-it's gorgeous, for starters-but it's not swizzled. Call it something else.
In their defense the ones with the float are always swizzled first.