Swizzles with Sizzle - Page 3

The current 'big daddy' of swizzle stick producers is Royer Corp., the Indiana-based, family-run company responsible for everything from the gold gladiator helmet sticks at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to the devilish horn-player-topped sticks at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Beverly Hills.

With minimum custom orders of 10,000 pieces, Royer draws their largest business from casinos, hotels and resorts, big liquor brands, and chain restaurants. They've also effectively cornered the popular theme-bar market, which includes tiki bars.

Many lone wolves are replicating the same enchanted vibe at home. Do-it-yourselfers are turning dens into colorfully lit palaces of huts, thatched umbrellas poles, and booze.

SPARKING NEW INTEREST

The TV series Mad Men (2007-'15) was a recent cultural phenomenon that managed to spark renewed interest in these slim stir sticks. The 1960s were the swizzle stick's glory days, and Don Draper's Old Fashioned cocktail wouldn't have been complete without a stick wedged among ice cubes in his glass.

 

In the 1960s, swizzle sticks became a vital part of lounge décor. They were scurried into purses and pockets as mementos of a glorious time or special celebration. The more unique the design, the more they were pocketed.

But in the 1980s, the sticks went out of favor. Red straws took over the cocktail landscape in bars and restaurants.

In the late 1990s, swizzle resurgence began with a new appreciation for martinis. Think TV's Sex and the City and downing a few Cosmopolitans, Appletinis, or Sex on the Beach cocktails. Now, signature drinks at high-end cocktail bars from coast to coast are specialty beverages with specialty swizzle sticks. Theme-bar settings bring opportunities for exciting shapes and sizes tailor-made for whimsical drinks.

Today the plastic or wooden pieces of the past continue to entertain collectors and cool cats alike. Pam Ashlund, an Los Angeles-based finance director who moonlights as head of the Swizzle Stick Collectors Club, became obsessed with plastic promotional-type swizzle sticks "because they are often the last trace of restaurants, hotels, and bars." Each stick has its own story.

But is the popularity of these sticks heading upward or losing steam? "Until the 1990s, the vintage swizzle stick market was a small niche," says Ashlund, but they have seen a revival in the tiki world. Swizzle sticks with tiki themes—palm trees, flamingos, hula dancers, even pirates—are sought after. Those from actual tiki bars are fought over, bought, sold, and traded by avid collectors.