NATIONAL MANGO BOARD
Where punch bowls pose an
operational challenge, pitchers of
shared drinks, like this mangostrawberry mixer, capture some
of the same convivial spirit.
BEVERAGE TRENDS
PACKING a
PUNCH
Festive, communal
drinks are making
a big splash in the
cocktail world
BY JACK ROBERTIELLO
hen the prices for cut-glass punch bowls
began to skyrocket on auction websites and at
flea markets a couple of years ago, sellers of
antique glassware must have been puzzled. But cocktailscene observers weren’t; they knew that the drink
revivalists had turned their attention to another lost
American beverage tradition: punch. The bowl of cheer,
long relegated to attics and hauled out only every few
Yuletides, suddenly had become a fixture of voguish charm
among some bartenders and cocktail mavens.
As yet another sign that everything old is new again
when it comes to American drinking trends, the return of
punch has the potential to be more than just an attentiongetting gimmick. Predating the cocktail in mixed-drink
history, punch offers customers the charm of an authentic,
antiquated drinking practice that’s both refreshing and
convivial.
Bar operators like the concept not only for its wealth of
historic recipes and traditions, which fit nicely into the
current rescuing of lost bar customs, but also because
serving communal drinks with style can be quick, easy and
efficient, no matter how complicated the recipe. And the
drinks are usually fun, fruity and refreshing enough to
appeal to almost everyone in a group.
W
ONE FOR ALL
Today, at Clover Club in Brooklyn, New York; at Death &
Co. in Manhattan; at Rickhouse in San Francisco; at
Ten-01 in Portland, Ore.; and at many places in between,
punches offer an appealing focus for groups of customers.
The communal drinks often go beyond traditional recipes
to incorporate contemporary ingredients while generally
still honoring the spirit of punch. Sometimes, the concept
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— punch is meant to be quaffable and relatively low in
alcohol — inspires bartenders to offer lighter, less-intense
versions of popular drinks like the mojito.
Even where serving customers drinks in large glass
bowls doesn’t fit an operator’s concept, some bartenders
have matched the basic service idea and returned to
offering batches in pitchers, like the margaritas or sangrias
that make a splash each summer.
In execution, there’s
nothing complicated about
punch; even the mise en
place is elementary. As
established by tradition,
punch is a light and
refreshing libation, made
to be suitable for different
palates, conducive to
convivial sharing among
many people and with
the least amount of fuss
for the host — or, in
this case, the bar
operator. In some
ways, punch is the urcocktail, the first
social apparition of a
multi-ingredient
alcohol-based drink.
Cocktail expert David Wondrich retraces
punch’s earliest origins in his latest book.
Summer 2010
FLAVOR
& THE MENU
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BEVERAGE TRENDS
& CO.
DEATH
CANTINA
At Cantina in San Francisco,
owner Duggan McDonnell
follows a five-ingredient
formula for pitcher drinks.
THE PUNCH LIST
Punch-bowl service turns
heads at Death & Co. in
New York City.
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Punches originally were made from specific
recipes, closely guarded and executed with
little variation, says cocktail historian David
Wondrich, who authored “Imbibe!” and is
putting the finishing touches on his book
“Punch: the Delights (and Dangers) of the
Flowing Bowl.” The recipes usually were
limited, at least at first, to five ingredients; in
Summer 2010
fact, punch derives from the Hindi word
“paunch,” meaning five.
“The five-ingredient formula always works
well, and there is some culinary merit on how
they work together on the palate,” says
Duggan McDonnell, owner of San Francisco’s
Cantina. McDonnell isn’t serving punches in
bowls but does offer punch-like, communal
drinks in pitchers.
The first punch may have been brought
to England by sailors returning from India
in the early 17th century, but their version
was undoubtedly much stronger than those
ultimately tamed by British hosts.
“The original recipes made for light and
balanced punch; you could see how people
would write about having had three bowls,”
says Wondrich.
Overall, an old Caribbean ditty established
more or less the basic recipe — “One of sour,
two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak” —
with a dash of bitters or spices added for
piquancy, and the service moved to New
World taverns and parties.
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BEVERAGE TRENDS
The
FLAVOR PAYOFF
Punch It Up
Fruity, retro and just sweet enough — punches work for every
drink program, says David Commer, a Lewisville, Texas-based
chain-account beverage specialist with more than 30 years
experience in the hospitality industry. Here are his tips for picking
and mixing the best punch or punch-like drinks for your menu.
Make a Vacation: Go for Hurricanes, Mai Tais and other tikitropical quaffs for patio and poolside settings, or for re-creations of
vacation scenes
Group Think: For every shared appetizer sampler, suggest a
shared punch pairing, served in a pitcher and festive glassware
Go Big: Keep vodka, tequila or other spirits infused with fruit in
big, glass dispensers at the bar; ready for easy mixing of signature
drinks, they also make great conversation starters
Cool the Coladas: Piña Coladas take on a fresher feel with
updated fruit like honeydew, mixed berry, peach, passion
fruit or guava
Generally, the mix calls for spirits
(originally brandy and rum or sherry), with
citrus, sugar, water and tea or spices.
OLD- AND NEW-WORLD VERSIONS
Credited with starting the punch revival in
London is Nick Strangeway, who created a
buzz for the Hawksmoor steakhouse when he
offered a half-dozen punches or so at a time
on the menu. Strangeway recently went
upscale to chef Mark Hix’s Hix in London,
where the menu today might include the
Criterion Milk Punch, a drink of rum and
brandy infused with pineapple and citrus,
spice mix and milk, aged and clarified before
serving over ice.
Another of his claims to fame is Guy’s
Punch, which mixes brandy, pineapple-infused
rum, spiced syrup, lemon juice, lemon sherbet
and green tea and is served hot or cold.
While Strangeway’s recipes tend toward
revivals of the classics, American bars are
adapting the style to modern tastes as well.
Julie Reiner, owner of Clover Club in
Brooklyn, last winter served one based on
Spanish albarino wine, for instance. For her,
Make it Pop: A nice measure of carbonation in the
punch mix works for the age demographic that grew
up drinking soda
Soften the Sweets: Try honey, agave and maple for
sweeteners that don’t overpower fresh fruit flavors
Use Pro Blends: Some flavors of commercial
syrups, like mixed ginger, habanero-mango and
florals, are best left to the pros
Double Up: When using watery fruits like
watermelon and strawberries, or off-season
produce, adding a flavored syrup helps punch up
the flavors and colors; bitters offers more magic
flavor enhancement
— Kathy Hayden
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Summer 2010
TEXASWEET
Fruit choices are easy to change with seasonal
punches; here, red grapefruit makes a festive
holiday version of the communal drink.
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RICKHOUSE
BEVERAGE TRENDS
At Rickhouse in San
Francisco, Erick Castro’s
punches set seasonal and
even holiday moods, with
warming spices in winter
and berries in summer.
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serving punch provides a double pleasure: It
not only fits the throwback feel of the saloon
but also provides a chance to employ her
collection of antique bowls and cups.
At Death & Co., one of the forerunners of
the American punch revival, milk-glass
punch bowls arrive with matching cups and a
silver ladle. The recipes change — currently,
the menu includes Nuts & Sherry Punch with
toasted-pecan-infused bourbon, East India
sherry, allspice dram (a spicy, rum-based
liqueur), fresh pineapple and lime juices and
bitters. Pisco Punch blends strawberry- and
pineapple-infused pisco, maraschino liqueur
and lime juice, while Mother’s Ruin Punch
pairs gin with tea-infused sweet vermouth,
fresh lemon and grapefruit juice and
Champagne.
Summer 2010
The Rickhouse menu offers four punches,
suitable for four to eight customers, at a time,
and rather than focusing on pure seasonality
and what’s fresh in the market, it honors the
season in other ways.
“We like to have the punches appropriate
for the holidays,” notes Erick Castro, general
manager of Rickhouse. “Last winter, we had a
lot of cinnamon and nutmeg flavors in the
punches, while closer to the spring we make
them lighter, using gin with celery or
cucumber. Punches are really an easy way to
reflect the seasons.”
With people needing to settle among
themselves what to order, it’s important to be
in sync not only with the weather and climate
but also the general, seasonal mood, and the
more festive, the better. So Pimm’s Berry
Punch, with Pimm’s Cup, gin-berry puree,
ginger, sparkling water and citrus, does well in
the warmer months, while the potent Little
Monster’s Exotic Punch (rum, oloroso sherry,
allspice dram, lime juice, cane sugar and
nutmeg) does better when the climate and
customs require darker, richer flavors.
Reiner rotates seasonal recipes. Punches
based on rum tend to be popular with her
guests, as are sparkling-wine punches; one of
her favorites includes fresh berries,
elderflower liqueur, crème de cassis, sloe gin
and rosé Champagne.
Last winter, she reports, the Old World
Punch, made with cognac, dark rum, English
breakfast tea, lemon juice, demerara syrup
and nutmeg, did well, as the dark and robust
flavors fit seasonal drinking trends. Such
changes tend to favor lighter, white-spiritbased punches in the warmer months and
dark rum and brandy in the fall and winter.
But it’s the service style that has really caught
on, she says.
“It’s interesting how serving punch makes
people turn their heads, and all at once, the
table that is served is the center of
conversation, and the bowl itself brings
people together.”
It’s part of the charm of punch but also the
challenge, says Rickhouse’s Castro. “It has to
be a crowd pleaser. That’s the tricky thing
about punch; it has to be something that
everyone can like, since it’s communal
drinking.”
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CLOVER CLUB
BEVERAGE TRENDS
ALL IN THE MIX
Castro points out that adding certain spices
can subtly change a punch over the course of
service, with ingredients like star anise
imparting a stronger impact fairly quickly.
The Rickhouse manages dilution, another
flavor issue for a beverage meant to be
dawdled over, by having large, slowly melting
ice blocks custom-made for the bowls.
As McDonnell points out, large-format
drinks like pitchers and punches also allow
bartenders to use high-potency or intensely
flavored ingredients as accents, rather than
centerpieces, in drinks. In his herbaceous and
savory Monk’s Sangria, with Chartreuse,
Sauvignon Blanc, rhum agricole, sugar, lemons,
bitters and seltzer, the approximately one-ounce
addition of pungent rhum agricole (cane-juicebased rum) gives the drink “a kick in the pants,
like a dash of bitters in a Manhattan.”
For Julie Reiner at New
York City’s Clover Club,
punch is a way to
showcase antique bowls
and cups and serve fun
drinks like “Punch the
Village Idiot.”
TAKE-AWAY TIPS
BUY A BIG BOWL: One eye-catching bowl, filled with a nightly
special punch, is a great conversation starter at the bar
TAKE FIVE: Punch’s five-ingredient and lower-alcohol formula is a
Sometimes, seemingly disparate flavors
fortify each other or combine to create a
unique flavor profile. Castro likes the way
such sweeteners as agave syrup and grenadine
work together to create a subtly different
quality. He compares mixing blanco tequila
and applejack (American apple brandy) in
punches to creating something like an appleflavored reposado (“rested and aged”) tequila.
Punches also provide a solution to some
operational problems — specifically, how to
serve many people efficiently during a rush.
While bars generally don’t make as much profit
from punch service, the high volume, along with
press and public attention, more than makes up
for the investment in implements and such.
Large recipes at Cantina are made like any other
cocktail and mixed in an enormous shaker tin.
But success, of course, brings its own issues.
Some nights, there’s a waiting list to order
drinks served in one of the Rickhouse’s 14
punch bowls. But for all that, punches turn out
to be a convenient bridge between the seriously
geeky cocktail crowd and the average tippler.
As Castro says, “It’s a little piece of cocktail
history being introduced to people without
beating them over the head with it.” &
great cocktail option, no matter how it’s served
TAKE A PITCHER: Offer fun, fruity, rum-based drinks in pitchers for
whole tables to enjoy
CAPTURE THE COMMUNAL SPIRIT: Summer is a great time to
serve any drink communally; try mojitos, sangrias and margaritas in
pitchers or other big-service pieces
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Summer 2010
JACK ROBERTIELLO writes about spirits,
cocktails, wine, beer and food from Brooklyn,
N.Y.; he can be e-mailed at applejak@earthlink.net.
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