Buckner Punch
For each quart bottle of champagne mix and add one wineglassful of good brandy, one wineglassful of good rum, one wineglassful of good arrack, one wineglassful of good kirsh, one wineglassful of good anisette, one wineglassful of good Maraschino, one wineglassful of good Curaçoa, two slices of ripe pineapple, two slices of sweet orange, one toddy glassful of pulverized sugar. At first put in a small quantity of ice, and later fill the bowl with large lumps of ice. It should stand three hours before using.
N.B.—The foregoing concoction would, I think, be the death or destruction of any one who sipped it. I should advise two quarts of water to each quart of punch! —E. E.
A grand Victorian punch bowl in full cry — seven spirits and liqueurs over champagne, meant to mellow for hours before anyone drinks it.
- A wineglass of eachEvery pour is about ¼ cup (2 oz); seven of them per bottle of champagne makes this genuinely potent — scale the ice and fruit up, or the spirits down.
- ArrackAn old Asian spirit distilled from palm sap, coconut, or rice — the original base of European punch. A funky, full-flavored rum is the closest stand-in.
- Kirsch and anisetteKirsch is a dry cherry brandy; anisette a sweet anise liqueur — small pours that carry a lot of flavor.
- Maraschino and CuraçaoMaraschino is a liqueur from marasca cherries (not the syrup off the jarred kind); Curaçao an orange liqueur — triple sec substitutes.
- “Toddy glassful” of sugarA toddy glass is a small tumbler, so roughly ¾ cup of superfine sugar.
- Let it stand three hoursThe long rest lets the spirits marry; big lumps of ice chill the bowl without watering it down as fast as small pieces.
The unlikely star of this list is arrack, and its presence is a fossil of punch’s beginnings. When English sailors and traders first brought punch home from South and Southeast Asia in the 1600s, arrack — distilled from palm sap or rice — was its original spirit, and “arrack punch” was the height of Georgian fashion. By the Victorian era a lavish bowl like this one layered rum, brandy, and a whole cabinet of French and Italian liqueurs over the old arrack base, a delicious way to show off a well-stocked sideboard.
From page 83 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
