Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: A Punch Above

Happy Black Friday! The grand plan I had this week was to make a punch for Thanksgiving and then discuss it here. As good of an idea as that was, I didn’t think through the whole “write a post after hosting a dinner for 14 people” thing. So apologies for the length of this week’s post. I’m powering through while fighting a turkey coma (and avoiding washing dishes….)

As a reminder, here’s the recipe I used from The Gentleman’s Companion by Charles Baker:

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. 

The punch was a huge hit. Admittedly I was a little concerned when making it. I was hoping it wouldn’t suck and be a waste of ingredients but it was far from it. Everyone loved it. It is bubbly and effervescent right off the bat. The champagne and charged (soda) water saw to that. It made it light and delicious. The wine is the flavor that comes through the most. But it isn’t overwhelming. It’s a nice counter to the fruit juices and the cointreau.

Speaking of booze, the punch doesn’t taste overly boozy, which is nice. If it was too much, I don’t think it would have worked out as well.

As the evening went on, the punch loses some of the fizz, but it can be resurrected. Through some clever engineering, we discovered that once it goes flat, adding a touch of ginger ale and white wine brings it back to it’s bubbly glory.

I definitely will be making this the next time we host a gathering. More than likely that will be next Thanksgiving, but I might try and host another party just as an excuse to make this fantastic punch again.

How about all of you? If anyone made this punch I’d love to hear what you think about it.