109 / 226
THE EXOTIC DRINKING BOOK
until nearly done. Time these to suit the end of the wine-pouring
process. Throw them into the bowl, and serve the whole thing very
hot. . . . Some stout hearts add a tumbler full of good cognac brandy
to the whole-and we, after testing the business, heartily agree with
them; since sherry of itself isn't potent enough to make any Saxon
defend his native land, much less a 20th Century wassailer, with
all
we have been through during the one and a half decades that Saxons
never even considered as drinkable fluid!
TEN WEST INDIAN PLANTER'S PUNCHES, SWizzLEs, and
like CEREMONIES of a PLEASANT NATURE
Any set rules for these tropical institutions would last about as long
as a set rule for a mint julep to please Louisville and Baltimore. There
are as many Planter's Punches as there are-or were-planters; as
many Swizzles as swizzlers.
After stays in Nassau, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti,
Cura~ao,
Venezuela,
and both ends of the Canal Zone, we have found most of this drink
family extremely good, especially those made of special aged Jamaica
rum we've imbibed in the Myrtlebank Gardens, Kingston. Those
listed here have, for one reason or another, stood out in our memo–
ries. . . .
If
there is any one thing which is hard and fast everywhere
it is this: Get decent well-aged rum, and brandy or cognac, for all
punches and West Indian drinks. Just because they are a bit disguised
with tropical fruit juice is no sign that thirty seconds swizzling, shak–
ing, or stirring will make up for eight years the raw spirit should have
lain in wood casks.
The charm of all these exotics is their mellowness, their smoothness
and the gentleness with which they come, see and conquer.
'
One other thing: Don't try to use canned fruit juices of any kind
and expect notability.
In
other words, fresh fruit lacking, call it a rum–
canned-grapefruit-juice-ade, not a Planter's Punch.
Extreme chilliness is the brand of excellence, over and above these
thoughts, and for this reason the soundest mixers
chill glasses, or in-
• 109 •