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WHISKEY PUNCH (another way)
Whiskey, when it can be obtained genuine, is perhaps the purest spirit of any, and the least noxious when taken in large quantities. The sugar is first dissolved in boiling water, and the spirit added either in a tumbler or jug, and that is the general process. Some prefer a little lemon, in which case the sugar should be rubbed on the rind, and the juice added in making the syrup. It is also a common practice to add a spoonful of raspberry jam, which gives a pleasant taste to the beverage.
Cassell's gives a method rather than a formula, so the proportions are yours to set. The following fills in what the text assumes a Victorian drinker already knew.
- Working proportionsCassell's gives none. A workable starting point for one tumbler is 2 fl oz (60 ml) whiskey, 4 fl oz (120 ml) boiling water, with a teaspoon or two of sugar, adjusted to taste.
- Order of operations mattersOrder of operations -- The text has the sugar dissolved in boiling water first, with the spirit added afterwards. Dissolving the sugar in the water before the whiskey goes in makes it easier to get it fully into solution.
- "Rubbed on the rind"This is what bartenders now call an oleo-saccharum: sugar abraded against the lemon peel to draw out the oils. Rub a few lumps or a tablespoon of granulated sugar over the whole zest of a lemon, then dissolve that sugar in the hot water. It carries far more citrus character than juice alone.
- Tumbler or jugA tumbler here is a straight-sided glass of about 8-10 fl oz, made for a single serving; the jug is for making a batch to be ladled or poured out. Pre-warm either with hot water so the drink does not go tepid on contact.
- The raspberry jam versionThe text adds a spoonful of jam to the finished drink as a flavouring. If you want it smooth, stir the jam into the hot syrup until it slackens and strain out the seeds before adding the whiskey; since the jam brings its own sugar, you may want less in the syrup.
- Whiskey choiceIn a British book of this period this means Irish or Scotch. Heavily peated malts fight with lemon and jam; a blend or a soft Irish whiskey suits the drink better.
- On the opening sentenceThe claim that whiskey is the "least noxious" spirit taken in quantity reflects Victorian anxiety about adulterated gin and industrial spirit, not any real difference in effect. Ethanol is ethanol whatever the bottle.
- YieldNot stated; the text allows either a single tumbler or a jug. Scale directly for a jug and keep it covered off the heat rather than simmering, which drives off both alcohol and lemon oil.
Punch reached Britain through East India Company trade in the seventeenth century, and the name is generally traced to a Hindi or Sanskrit word for five, for the five customary elements: spirit, sugar, citrus, water and spice. By the time Cassell's was compiled, punch had shrunk from the great communal bowl to the individual tumbler of hot toddy taken at bedtime or against a chill, which is why this entry reads as an instruction to one drinker rather than a host. The passage also shows how far whiskey had risen in respectability: Scotch and Irish blends were being marketed nationally in the 1880s and 1890s, and writers routinely contrasted their supposed purity with the adulterated gin of the previous generation. The raspberry jam is a domestic touch that Cassell's describes simply as a common practice, still met with in hot whiskey drinks made for a cold, and a reminder that a jar of preserve was the cheapest fruit flavouring in the house.