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Delicious! Quite sweet, with orange notes on top of the subtle cognac and rum background. Grenadine adds color and flavor (and sweetness), with lemon bringing back some citrusy brightness. BUT - the pic shows a dark/ruby red drink - mine was a nice, moderately dark PINK, cloudy cocktail, reminiscent of ruby grapefruit juice.

Remade this with Cognac, and now I can see why it feels spirit forward. It is still nicely balanced, but definitely dryer. I get vinous, floral but still dry notes of the Cognac along with that typical ever-so-light ester notes of the Havana Club 3. I also can feel the mandarin liqueur (in place of Orange Curacao) a bit more in this rendition.

A simple, sweet and citrusy drink with a nice tang of pomegranate and lemon. I don'tknow if I would call this a 'spirit-forward' drink though.

Being big fans of both rum and cognac, the Swalter is ideal. We use home made grenadine which is not as sweet as the commercial brands. May try with Creole Shrub (rum based orange liqueur) next time to see if it makes a difference. Perfectly balanced with no ingredients overpowering the other.

Great blend! Had to use 4 yr rum, as I was out of 3 yr.! (Haha) love the name “Swalter” , as referred in The Savoy Cocktail Book

Very nice. For being so spirit heavy it is a surprisingly light drink. Brandy and rum are both there, but neither dominates.

Nice cocktail! Maybe the Havana club had to much sweetness to the drink and hide the cognac.. The Curaçao and the lemon juice balance the taste.