We wanted to write a few words about our experiments with Punch. As the tagline suggests, Summit Sips is about exploring the mysteries of mixology. Whether or not you like the word “mixology”, we don’t advocate consumption of alcoholic beverages to get “drunk”. We see it more as a culinary pursuit to find a balance of flavors and to pair ingredients in unique (or sometimes classic) ways. Semantics aside, there’s always the benefit of five o’clock refreshment, and sometimes the goal is to lubricate the social gears of a party to stimulate mingling and conversation. In any case, Punch is a great way to explore exotic flavor combinations.

Punch is a borrowed word from the Hindi panch which itself came from the Persian word paantch meaning five, to represent the five typical ingredients in this early beverage: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water and tea or spices. It was brought back to Britain from India in the early 1600s. In fact, punch is arguably one of the first mixed alcoholic drinks to enjoy widespread popularity. Before the American cocktail came on the scene, punch was king.

It’s actually pretty easy to make a punch so potent that it goes just a little too far. Case in point was our own Summit Sips Punch for Grand Old Day. If you wanted to enjoy more than one glass, you had to plan to stay awhile—it really packed a p–, er, ahh, it really packed a wallop! Although it was a riff on a historic recipe, you can probably guess that the more booze you add, the stronger it gets. However, the harder point to master is achieving good balance, and with punch, that can be tricky when you are combining so many ingredients. Of course, we’re not talking about making “garbage can punch” from your college party days where everyone brings fruit and booze to be dumped into a huge vat for mass consumption. Nor is this about mixing up a batch of Tahitian Treat and pouring in some rum and Sprite. No, we will make a respectable punch—one you can mix for a single guest or something you can build in larger batches to serve at a formal gathering or a dinner party. But how can we ensure a result that’s reasonably strong, balanced, and delicious?

Fortunately, there’s a memorable little rhyme that can help. It comes from the August 8, 1908 edition of the New York Times which contained an article with the recipe for Planter’s Punch, but the basic framework of ingredients works for just about anything:

One of sour,
Two of sweet,
Three of strong,
Four of weak.

The idea is that you take a standard measure of say, an ounce, and apply this rhyme formula to build your punch. “One of sour” represents one measure of a souring agent such as lime or lemon juice. The “sweet” is some kind of sugar syrup, liqueur or other sweetener. “Strong” refers to the spirit you choose. It could be rum, whiskey, brandy, vodka—it’s up to you. Finally, the weak ingredient is meant to be juice or sparkling water, but it can also be champagne or tea for added dimension and spice. In other words, if you follow the rhyme and select ingredients you like, you should end up with a very delicious result.

Here’s an example we whipped up this evening:

Punch
.5 oz lemon juice
.5 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
.5 oz homemade grenadine
1.5 oz gin
1 oz jasmine tea
1 oz orange juice
pinch nutmeg

Pour all ingredients into a shaker. Add ice. Shake to chill and pour everything into a tall glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

We used a standard measure of one-half ounce to keep the overall volume under control for a single cocktail. Fractional amounts can be a little harder to follow, but here goes: The first .5 oz is the sour, in this case, lemon juice. Then, the next full ounce is my sweet. We used a mixture of .5 oz Luxardo and .5 oz grenadine. Then comes 3 parts strong, and for our punch it was 1.5 oz of gin. Finally, we added 4 parts weak which was a combination of jasmine tea and orange juice. To top it off, we sprinkled a little nutmeg (you can never go wrong with nutmeg) and garnished with mint.

This just demonstrates that you can use anything you have open or available to make a delicious punch on the spot. The Luxardo was still hanging around from the Aviation the other day, and so was the gin. The other ingredients were literally leftovers or items we had in the refrigerator. And the taste? Fantastic. We recommend using the half ounce measure to play with this formula. You only use 1.5 ounces of hard liquor which is what you would normally put into a cocktail, so you can experiment without a lot of waste and have a reasonable expectation of how much alcohol you are consuming.

Do you want to make a huge batch for a party? Use a bigger standard measure. Pre-mix your punch and chill it before serving. Add cold sparkling ingredients just before guests arrive. Try making giant ice chunks embedded with frozen fruit. The large ice will melt slowly and the beautiful fruit pieces will decorate the punch bowl. Did you create a punch masterpiece? Let us know in the comments below!