Hello and welcome to a different kind of cocktail of the week post. This week, I’ve got nothing to share with you since I’ve been under the weather recently. My head cold deteriorated since last week’s tea based drink to the point where I’m just regaining my voice. So, with that in mind, I’m throwing out a new concept for this space going into (American) Thanksgiving: Audience participation! So for backstory, we’re hosting Thanksgiving at Haus Sharkbait, and we’re having two punches on hand to serve. One with booze and one without. The punch that is sans alcohol is one I featured in the first Thanksgiving post I wrote about here. Here is the recipe again:

1 Gallon apple cider

1 Orange, cut into slices

Whole cloves

3-4 Whole cinnamon sticks

750 ml Bourbon (optional)

In a large punch bow, add in the apple cider, bourbon and the cinnamon sticks. Stir well to combine. Take the sliced orange and stud each slice with 8-9 cloves. Float the orange slices on top and let sit for an hour to let the flavor come together. Ladle into a glass to serve.

So what about the boozy punch? Well, there were many options, but I opted for one from Charles Baker’s Gentleman’s Companion called the Bengal Lancers’ Punch. I chose that one because it sounded excellent, and is very unique.  It comes from a British Cavalry officer stationed in India from 1926, and “was a specialty of his Colonel on quite special occasions”. It calls for the following:

1 qt. Champagne

.5 cup Orange juice

.5 cup Pineapple juice

3 ponies (3 oz.) Jamaica or Barbados rum

2 pint bottles Claret*

.5 cup Lime Juice

3 ponies (3 oz.) Curacao or Cointreau

1 pint Charged water**

“A little sugar to taste and to keep it dry and not too sweet”

Ice as above*** and garnish with very thin slices of green lime. this is a particularly delicate punch and Barbados rum is less likely to overpower the delicate wine flavors than Jamaica. 

*Claret is mostly used to refer to Bordeaux wines, so use that,

**Baker doesn’t spoecify, but I’m assuming charged water here refers to sparking water/club soda, so that is what I will be using.

***The ice as above refers to rules for a decent punch earlier in the chapter. Baker says to not use small ice unless an emergency. Small ice melts too fast and will dilute the punch and affect the flavor. He also suggests chilling the ingredients for an hour or two before putting in the punch bowl. Another rule listed by Baker is to wait until service to add the sparkling ingredients. In this case, that would mean topping with the water and the champagne.

So what does this have to do with audience participation? I thought it would be fun to give you fine folks the recipes I plan on using in advance, and then next week if you ended up making one and or both of these, I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments next week when I’ll review mine. Feel free to mix up either and let me know what you guys think. Have a good Thanksgiving!

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)