Punch Drunk

Punch is fun. And it makes an especially good party offering, as the hosts don't have to spend their evening "behind the bar," so to speak, but can mingle freely with their guests. Well, actually, it is usually only served at parties nowadays, though once upon a time it was a standard libation. You just don't see it that much anymore.

The main problem is finding punches that are interesting, and also not too sweet. Because so often, punches are made (or refreshed mid-party) by people who have already had way too much to drink - I am sure you have seen it: A soused host debonairly dumping sickly sweet rum into some sort of sickly sweet juice, concocting a recipe for one of the worst headaches in the world.

So, after some years, I have refined my list of punch recipes to just a few. And of those, these two are the best. They are deeply flavorful, complex, and not too sweet. They work wonderfully as holiday party punches, but are not limited to that service.

By the way, here is a good book about the history of punch by David Wondrich.

Without further ado:

Kentucky Cardinal Punch
Courtesy of Imbibe Magazine.

Says Imbibe, succinctly: "This punch from Kentucky bartender Kyle Higgins gets a strong fruity backbone from Southern Belle shiraz, a robust Australian wine aged in used Pappy Van Winkle whiskey barrels." 

It was incredibly difficult for me to track down this wine. Originating from Australia's R Wines Winery, I finally found a distributor in New York (and reasonably priced, too). I had a friend lug up a few bottles. In any case, I have not seen any since. I am sure nothing tastes quite like it (thanks to that aging in Pappy van Winkle bourbon whiskey barrels), so choose whatever bold wine you can find and don't expend energy on regret.

8 cups Southern Belle Shiraz, or other bold, spicy red
2 cups rye whiskey
2 cups brandy
1 cup sweet vermouth
1/2 cup Carpano Antica
1 lb granulated sugar
2 cups Moscato d’Asti
8 cups sparkling water
Ice block (freeze water in a Bundt cake or loaf pan)
Garnish with orange twists

Combine shiraz, rye, brandy, vermouth and Carpano in a pitcher. Slowly stir in the sugar until dissolved. Refrigerate for several hours until cold. When ready to serve, place ice block in punch bowl and pour chilled mixture over. Top with moscato and soda water and serve. Garnish each serving with an orange twist.
Makes approximately 50 servings.

Bourbon Punch with Pink Grapefruit and Mint

Courtesy of Melissa Clark, Bon Appetit. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

This is quite an interesting punch. Sort of a mix between a Mint Julep and Brown Derby. It is not too sweet, and has a tart, citrusy sparkle to it, thanks to the mingling grapefruit, mint, and club soda. The ingredients may seem a bit unusual, but this was a successful punch at one of my holiday parties. Very flavorful and with mass appeal. I doubled this recipe.

Hors d'oeuvres

• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 15 fresh mint sprigs, divided
• 4 cups strained fresh pink grapefruit juice
• 2 1/2 cups bourbon
• 12 dashes angostura bitters
• 1 cup club soda

Stir 1/3 cup water and sugar in small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil. Add five fresh mint sprigs. Remove from heat; cool syrup completely.

Strain syrup into punch bowl. Add juice, bourbon, and bitters; mix in soda and 10 mint sprigs. Add a block of ice to bowl.

A note about ice blocks: You want an arctic hunk of ice. While you can certainly buy blocks of ice, it is is easy to use a large Tupperware container, or as suggested above, a Bundt pan, to create a frozen block or ring of ice. Just freeze the water over night or longer to be sure it is solid! Have a backup ready, too, in case the first block melts too much.

If you are not serving the punch immediately, keep it refrigerated until you are ready to serve, and then add the ice to the punch bowl. Yes, you need a punch bowl. Bottoms up!

Whoa, whoa!

The Brown Derby Cocktail

The Brown Derby on Wilshire

In 1926, the original Brown Derby Restaurant opened at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Like most good things from that time, it no longer exists. It moved to 3377 Wilshire Boulevard, eventually got sold, and at last report was part of a typical LA strip mall.

The Brown Derby on Hollywood and Vine

It was not the only Brown Derby. Another branch, probably more famous, opened in Hollywood at 1628 North Vine Street. This branch also sported a distinctive brown dome, though it was not quite as derby-shaped as the original. The Hollywood Brown Derby was the place for the city's movers and shakers. A place to see, and be seen. They say Clark Gable proposed to Carole Lombard at this location. They also shot the "L.A. at Last" episode of I Love Lucy within its walls. There was a "Great Wall of Fame," on which hung the caricatures of the restaurant's many celebrity diners.

Allegedly, the Cobb Salad was invented there, made by owner Bob Cobb as a midnight meal for Sid Grauman (Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, Grauman's Chinese Theatre).

The Brown Derby Cocktail, however, was not invented there. Instead, it came from a competitor called the Vendome Club, also in Hollywood. According to Dale DeGroff's Craft of the Cocktail, this recipe dates to 1930.

The Vendome Club, Hollywood

The ingredients may sound strange at first, but bear with me. The flavors work well together - you get a very fleeting, candied sweetness, followed by a much more nuanced honey taste, then a pleasing bitterness introducing the whiskey's spiciness, and at the end, an incredibly dry finish - and it is a very simple drink to make. No fancy Italian liqueurs or hard-to-find bottlings. All you need is some fresh grapefruit juice, some honey, and some bourbon. For this drink I happened to use Old Grand-Dad 114 proof bourbon, which worked well. I had a grapefruit that was getting a bit soft, so I squeezed it for fresh grapefruit juice. And to make the honey syrup, all you do is mix one part honey with one part warm water, and stir until the honey dissolves.

My wife suggested that using different honeys - lavender, for instance - would impart variations in flavor that would be particularly pleasing. This would also be a success with rye whiskey. So, play around!

The Brown Derby Cocktail

• 2 oz bourbon (or rye)
• 1 oz fresh grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz honey syrup (recipe here)

Shake the ingredients with ice, until very cold. Strain into a cocktail glass and enjoy. Easy peasy, nice and tasty.

Bottoms up!

The Hemingway Daiquiri

"My mojito in the Bodeguita del Medio and my daiquiri in the Floridita." 

- Ernest Hemingway

On July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway took his shotgun and took his leave of this world.

On July 2, 2011, the fiftieth anniversary of Papa Hemingway's death, my savvy wife suggested - quite wisely - that we honor one of the twentieth-century's greatest writers by recreating a drink he famously enjoyed at the historic El Floridita, in Havana, Cuba. The drink, of course, is the daiquiri.

I have had the pleasure of visiting El Floridita during two separate trips to Havana. This hallowed watering hole, like much of Havana, seems to have stood still in time, evoking a lush yet sepia-toned era of high style and tropical elegance. The incense of decades of cigar smoke makes the wood fragrant and spicy. The breeze wafts lazily through the open doors. At the very spot along the bar where Hemingway used to stand during his frequent visits, is a bronze statue commemorating his patronage and paying homage to the legendary relationship of a unique man to an incomparable city.

The daiquiri at El Floridita could be considered to be the pinnacle of this particular cocktail. Perhaps it is the location and the tropical heat, ensuring that the icy and tart drink has maximum impact in terms of nostalgia and refreshment. I am sure there are better daiquiris, bigger daiquiris, and stronger daiquiris, but none are as a beautiful or satisfying as one consumed at the bar, next to Hemingway's bronze, at El Floridita on a muggy afternoon in Havana.

The Hemingway Daiquiri, also known as the Papa Doble, was first made by Constantino Ribailagua of El Floridita in the early 1920s. What makes it different from the standard daiquiri (light rum, fresh lime juice, sugar) are ingredients such as grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur. Without further ado:

Hemingway Daiquiri 
(aka, Papa Doble)

• 1.5 oz white rum (Cruzan is a good, inexpensive one)
• 1/4 oz maraschino liqueur such as Luxardo
• 1/2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
• 3/4 fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz simple syrup or agave syrup, or teaspoon of superfine sugar

Combine the ingredients in a shaker, add ice, and shake vigorously for about a ten-count. Strain into a cocktail glass and enjoy. There is not usually a garnish (that I recall), but a sprig of mint looks and smells good with this.

Bottoms up!

The Dirty Cur Cocktail

This is one I came up with after making my own black pepper-infused vodka, and I have to say it is pretty effing good. On its own, the black pepper vodka is intense - extremely peppery - but its flavor suggests that in the right combinations, it could be an excellent addition to a variety of cocktails.

The Dirty Cur is basically a riff on the Salty Dog (which is vodka and grapefruit juice, over rocks in a glass with a salted rim). The difference is the flavor of black pepper vodka.

First of all, you need to make your infusion. It's pretty easy:

Black Peppercorn-Infused Vodka

1. In a two-cup mason jar, add a handful of coarsely cracked black peppercorns.
2. Fill with good-quality vodka (when I say good quality, imagine drinking it ice-cold by itself).
3. Cover and let sit in a cool, dark place for no longer than 24 hours. It gets too intense quickly after that. 
4. After the 24-hour period, strain the vodka into a clean pint bottle or a mason jar - and put it in the freezer. It will be the color of a dark rum.
5. Let it mellow another day, and it's ready to drink.

When it is ice-cold, you can drink the infused vodka on its own, as the Russians do. You'll be surprised how tasty it is!

So, now you have your black pepper-infused vodka. It's time to concoct the Dirty Cur:

The Dirty Cur Cocktail

2 oz Black peppercorn-infused vodka
4-6 oz Fresh-squeezed pink grapefruit juice
Garnish: lime wheel

First, the rim job: To salt the rim of your highball glass, rub it with a lime wedge (gently, so you don't get the side of the glass all sticky), then dip it into a dish of coarse salt. Go easy, you don't want a rim that is too thickly encrusted...

After salting the rim, add ice to the glass, along with the vodka and the juice. Stir to mix, add the lime garnish, and enjoy the Dirty Cur. Bottoms up.