Book Review: Punch by David Wondrich

If you grew up in the Upper Midwest, like I did, you may have grown up thinking that punch was kool-aid and fruit juice mixed with lemon-lime soda. It’s what was served in every punch bowl I’d ever seen. Imagine my delight when I learned that punch had a much more grown-up origin.

I started reading this book because I love social gatherings, I love those gatherings to have interesting drinks and I love history. The idea of having a punch party intrigued me. After reading this book I felt certain that I needed to have that party. 

I have a theory that you can learn more about a people by studying what they do for leisure than you can by what they put down in their histories. Histories are full of kings and wars. Leisure for much of history revolved around booze. And along with that history of booze you get trade, society and yes even a bit of war. f that were all that were in this particular book, I would have been content. But I wouldn’t have shared it here. 

This book contains a lot of history, but fully two thirds of that is buried in the 44 recipes for that most social of drinks, Punch. The recipes are separated by ingredient, historical era and location. There are the Arrack Punches from the East India Company, Brandy and Rum Punches from England, Gin Punch, Milk Punch and Punches from the US that morphed into modern cocktails including the ones most intriguing to me, Whiskey Punch. You also get a bit of instruction on preparation and ingredients which is helpful since the original recipes span 400 or so years and at least three systems of measurement (two of which have the same names for differing amounts). And a bit of help sourcing the rarer implements and ingredients. 

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All in all this is a book sure to intrigue the history lover and it’s sure to provide at least one recipe that you’ll want to use at your next gathering of friends. I know I’ll be using at least one.

Last Night's Ad-Libbed Cocktail

My wife is in New Orleans this week for an accounting conference. Not that that's going to stop her from having a few cocktails while she's there. 

Since she is in the home of the sazerac, we'd decided I was going to have one at home along with her when she stopped off for one. We're going to sort of have a drink together from across the country (probably via text message unless she's in a place that has wi-fi and we can FaceTime).

Last night I was all set to have a sazerac "with her." But she went to a brewpub instead and had beer. And because I'm a hopeless romantic, I decided to wait until we could have one together to have mine.

Sigh, I really wanted a sazerac. 

Not one to let small things get me down, I decided to do the next best thing. I was going to make myself a manhattan. I grabbed a rye whiskey off the shelf. If I couldn't have a sazerac, I'd at least go with rye. 

Then a thought occurred to me...might there be a way to combine my two favorite cocktails? I'm already part of the way there with the rye. I could use the absinthe as the bitters. I like orange bitters in my manhattans, but sazeracs are sweetened, I could combine both of those flavors by using Cointreau. Yeah, this might work.

I hopped on google to do a little research and then I experimented with ratios a bit and ended up with something that turned out pretty tasty. I'll leave it to others actually decide if it was good or if I had just convinced myself by wanting it to be good. 

Here it is: the Sazehattan...the Manzerac...the Manhatterac...

Last Night's Ad-Libbed Cocktail

2 oz New Richmond Rye whiskey
3/4 oz Martini & Rossi Sweet (Rosso) Vermouth
1/2 oz Cointreau
light 1/2 tsp Leopold Bros Absinthe Verte 

Stir with ice until it gets cold and oh so velvety. Strain it into a chilled cocktail glass and squeeze a lemon peel over it to get those oils in the drink. I wipe it around the edges too before dropping it in the glass.

By an odd coincidence half the ingredients I used were craft spirits. New Richmond Rye from 45th Parallel Sprits in New Richmond, WI and Absinthe Verte from Leopold Bros in Denver, CO. So if you can't get those, you'll have to experiment with substitutes, I guess.

Mint Julep Season

My wife tells me that it is Mint Julep Season. ​And while I prefer my Mint Julep to hold both the mint and the julep, it is one on my wife's favorite bourbon drinks. Because of this, I've fine-tuned one exactly to her tastes. It uses Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Wild Turkey American Honey, honey, mint and crushed ice. 

I am aware that this isn't the traditional version, but if you don't mind a little self-congratulation, it's pretty dang good. ​

Mint Julep à la Eric

Here is what you will need:
​12 Mint Leaves (young, fresh ones work better)
​1 Mint Sprig
​2 oz Wild Turkey Rare Breed
​1 oz Wild Turkey American Honey
​1 oz honey (I prefer Tupelo Honey from Savannah Bee Company)
​Crushed Ice
​Metal Julep Cup

Here is how I make one:
​​Prep work: 

  • Rinse off/wash your mint. Don't rub too hard.
  • ​Thoroughly mix an ounce of American Honey with an ounce of honey. 
  • Measure out your bourbon. 
  • Crush your ice (might want to store this in the freezer until ready to use)
  • Set everything aside until ready to build. 

Build your drink:

  • Lightly rub your mint leaves and maybe give them a quick spanking. Drop them in the bottom of the julep cup. (I don't muddle since I don't want bitter flavors.)
  • Pack your cup with crushed ice
  • Pour the Wild Turkey Rare Breed over the ice
  • Pour the Honey/American Honey over the ice
  • Spank your mint sprig and shove in the top
  • Put a (short) straw right next to the mint sprig so your nose lands in it when you drink.

So you don't have Wild Turkey Rare Breed? Go ahead and substitute your favorite high proof/high flavor bourbon. I've even used a 17 year old Four Roses Single Barrel once (like yesterday)…

Don't judge. My wife was ecstatic. This is a good thing.

Spiced Cranberry Bourbon Punch

I wanted to come up with a catchier name for this, but it just isn't in me. Autumn Punch? No, that could be a lot of things. I guess this mouthful will have to do. 

I was invited to a autumn food themed party this past weekend. It was a "bring-something-to-share" sort of affair. My wife decided that pumpkin cupcakes were the order of the day. While I didn't disagree, I do love pumpkin after all, I felt that the folks who invited me would be a bit disappointed if I didn't bring something a bit more alcoholic in nature. So I set to work doing just that. I wanted something with bourbon in it, naturally. I was hoping to use the homemade cranberry juice as I thought it would pair well with the bourbon in a punch sort of setting. I googled Cranberry Bourbon Punch and found quite a few recipes. All of them were similar, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for. I wanted this to be light and refreshing, but also with a hint of the autumnal spiced feel to it. 

Based on the reactions I got to it, I at least came up with something worth sharing. The ladies couldn't stop gushing and certainly wanted, and consumed more than one glass. The guys thought it was good, but ended up turning back to the beer before too long. I was happy to have multiple glasses myself. Good thing this works out to about 2.25% ABV once it's all said and done, lowers the risk of over-consumption. I found this to be fruity with just the right hint of spice. Any more and it would have felt too much like you let your spiced cider go cold.

Spiced Cranberry Bourbon Punch

Juice Blend
5 cups + 1 oz cranberry juice 
1.5 cups pineapple juice 
1 cup orange juice 
1/3 cup lemon juice 

Spices
2 3-inch cinnamon stick
2 tsp whole cloves
3 white cardamom pods

The Rest
1 cup bourbon
1 bottle (2L size) ginger ale, chilled

 

The Procedure

  • Combine fruit juices.
  • Measure out 2 cups of juice blend and put in a sauce pan along with cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom pods. Bring to a boil, simmer for five minutes. Strain out everything but the cinnamon sticks. Allow to cool. 
  • Fish out the cinnamon sticks. Recombine juice blend with spiced juice blend. 
  • Add bourbon. 
  • Refrigerate until well chilled.
  • Serve mixed 50-50 with chilled ginger ale.

 

 

Sazerac

As I've loved both bourbon and rye for a while and cocktails for even longer, it was inevitable that this historical favorite was brought to my attention. 

Now, I like history. A lot. In fact I list amateur historian higher than bourbon evangelist in most of my bios. But it takes more than the fact that something is old to make me curious about it. There has to be a hook. Something that really makes me want to make the investment to try it. 

The sazerac's hook for me was the absinthe. Absinthe is expensive and hard to find. At least here in Minnesota. And in almost every description of a sazerac that I've ever read, you take that expensive, hard to find liquor and "discard" some of it. You dump it out! And yet, people love it. I read raving reviews of it almost every time I read about it. So when I found it on a menu while visiting Louisville recently, I thought to myself: "I have to try this." Guess what? I fell in love. The Sazerac was trying for first place in my list of favorite cocktails.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make one. After searching all my favorite liquor stores, I found one bottle of absinthe and it was $70. That's a bit rich for anything non-bourbon for me. Sad-Eric was Sad.

Fast forward to my recent vacation to Colorado. I love craft distillers, so every time I visit an area, I look up who's there. I try to take a tour, but if I can't I try to buy some of their product. Low and behold, local distiller Leopold Brothers made an award-winning absinthe. And they sold it in 375 mL bottles which brings the cost of entry down significantly (~$35). That was the last piece I needed to try to make my own at home.

I did some research and found a recipe that sounded trustworthy. While the recipe may have been fine, I made a horrible, undrinkable mess. I dumped half of the drink out. Sad-Eric was very sad. Again. But, as I (now) always say: if at first you don't succeed, dump it out and try again.

So, another night, another try. I was so scared off by the first recipe, that I found another recipe. The article that preceded it told me what I should be looking for in a well crafted Sazerac. I tried again. This time when I took a sip, I was overcome. This was the tasty drink I remembered! While it wasn't perfect, it was close enough to look forward to trying again until it was. After some tweaking and modification, the recipe I now follow is below: 

Sazerac

.25 oz water
1 tsp sugar
Peychaud’s bitters (4 shakes of the bottle)
2 oz Bulleit Rye
Ice
.5-.75 tsp Leopold Brothers Absinthe Verte
Lemon Zest

1. Chill your rocks glass
2. Mix the water and sugar in your mixing glass. Stick it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to dissolve the sugar.
3. Add ice to the mixing glass, dash in the bitters
4. Add Rye and stir for about 30 seconds
5. Coat the inside of the chilled rocks glass with the absinthe. Dump out the excess
6. Strain the rye mixture into the coated glass and twist the lemon zest above the drink to release lemon oils into the glass. Wipe the zest around the rim.  

Want to learn even more about Sazerac's? This series of blog posts was recommended to me by a friend and is very interesting 28 Sazeracs in 28 Days. The Sazerac company also gives some history and a recipe. 

Chai Tea Hot Toddy

I've got one heck of a sore throat due to a set of draining sinuses. I sure as heck hope that it is from an over abundunce of allergens this past weekend and not from the small, germ-infected-yet-oh-so-sweet-and-cute toddler of a niece of mine that I saw while experiencing the previously mentioned allergens. In any case, sore throats and cool weather make me think of one thing and one thing only. That's right, a hot toddy. Warmth makes the throat feel good, bourbon makes the body feel good. And it tastes good too. I make mine with Good Earth Chai Tea (decaf as I drink this before bed), Knob Creek Single Barrel, Savannah Bee Company's Tupelo Honey and lemon juice. You can use the brands you like.

Chai Tea Hot Toddy

Good Earth Chai Tea (Decaf), one tea bag
6 oz hot water (not quite boiling)
1 oz Savannah Bee Company's Tupelo Honey
1 oz Lemon Juice
2 oz Knob Creek Single Barrel Bourbon 

Make the tea as you normally would. Let it steep the length of time the manufacturer recommends.

Add lemon and honey. Stir. Might want to check the temp to make sure that it is below 173°F at this point before you add your bourbon.

Once it has cooled, add bourbon. (I use a high proof one to because I'm adding so much other liquid and flavor.)

Stir, sip and enjoy.

Chamomile Cocktail

I originally found this basic recipe on the site Mix n Sip while researching how to serve the Chamomile/Coriander infused vodka I developed. (Oh yeah, I created a blend of chamomile infused vodka, coriander infused vodka and lemon infused vodka that is out of this world good.) I promised a friend of mine, who is leaving for another job, a unique cocktail at the party I'm throwing Friday night. So here is my recipe.

Chamomile Cocktail

1.5 oz Chamomile infusion (my recipe)
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz rich simple syrup
Mint sprig

Muddle mint in shaker, fill half full of ice, add ingredients, shake 10 seconds to incorporate mint oils, strain, garnish with another mint sprig. 

I'd serve it in an up glass, but that's just me.