The holidays are cause for great celebration and an inordinate amount of self-induced stress — especially when hosting a party. You want everything to be perfect, right down to the olive fork resting on your great-grandmother’s crystal olive dish. No other region in the country takes this penchant for perfection to extremes more than the South. Having whipped up a batch of your best bourbon balls, baked a slew of cheese straws and decorated eight dozen cookies, you’re left with the perplexing question of what to serve for drinks.
Consider the case for punch.
Not the saccharine mixture of Hi-C, 7-Up and sherbet served at church potlucks. We’re talking about a big bowl of booze, maybe topped with Champagne, with citrus and sugar thrown in for good measure. This communal concoction is the very essence of what it means to be Southern. A good punch takes time and care to prepare, requires fresh ingredients, loves tradition and will be enjoyed by your thirsty guests.
Southern colonial punches date back to the 18th century and were a source of pride. Serving a signature mixture for your party in an ornate bowl was considered highly fashionable. Unlike the the teetotaling blend of fruit drink, soda and melted ice cream we know as punch today, these boozy vessels commanded the table, filled with brandy, rum, Champagne, ice and oleo-saccharum (a citrus oil and sugar mixture which served as the base of the drink). The last element was key to unlocking the libation’s fragrant aroma while masking the taste of all that booze.
Prior to the Civil War, punch was the party drink of choice, but it has since taken a backseat to its much more concentrated cousin, the cocktail. Southerners, however, couldn’t let a good thing go and continued to wave their punch ladles high, until Prohibition forced it to exit the party.
Punch lay dormant for about 20 years until a group of Charleston Junior Leaguers reignited its flame with their 1950 cookbook “Charleston Receipts,” which included a recipe for the militia-style Charleston Light Dragoon Punch.
Three types of punches were popular in the South, popularized by members-only clubs, high society and military organizations. Many are still sipped today.
Quoit Club Punch
Private drinking clubs like Richmond’s Quoit Club, founded in 1788, had a signature cocktail or punch. Members met regularly under the guise of politics or charitable works, but in reality to escape their families and drink with their buddies. David Wondrich, drinks historian and author of the book “Punch,” says the Quoits would meet every other Saturday, eat barbecue and drink a potent mixture containing a bottle each of rainwater Madiera, VSOP Cognac and Jamaican rum, with water and oleo-saccharum for balance. This was no church picnic.
Saint Cecilia Punch
This lovely but potent concoction was the high-falutin party punch of Charleston’s upper echelon. The early history of the Saint Cecilia Society and its yearly ball are fuzzy, but it’s believed that this fancy dance dates back to the 1820s with this punch its grande dame. The ball, now held around Thanksgiving and limited to generations-old Charleston families, still serves its double brandy, rum, tea, pineapple and Champagne punch measured in quarts.
Chatham Artillery Punch
Described as a “vanquisher of men,” Chatham Artillery Punch, named for the 160-year-old Savannah regiment, is likely the most famous of military mixtures and requires a horse bucket full of booze to be stirred into a frenzy. Historians believe one of the original recipes began with oleo-saccharum, to which a quart of brandy, whiskey and rum were added, finally filling the bucket to the brim with Champagne.
Ticonderoga Club AP (all-purpose) Punch
Paul Calvert, bartender and co-owner of Ticonderoga Club, says this historically based punch is easy to make at home. With a tea and citrus cordial built around an oleo-saccharum, you can create almost any punch. Calvert’s golden punch rule? Two parts booze to one part cordial. This recipe can be converted based on the number of guests.
Tea and citrus cordial
In a low, wide, medium-sized bowl, combine the peels of five lemons and one orange with two cups of unrefined cane sugar to create your oleo-saccharum. Using your hands or wooden spoon, massage the sugar into the peels until well mixed. Transfer to a Mason jar, seal and place in a sliver of sunlight on a window sill for two to three hours.
Transfer the jar contents back to the bowl. Add one cup of freshly-squeezed, finely strained lemon juice and one cup of strong, black tea, warm to room-temperature. Using a spoon, blend well and strain out citrus peels.
Punch
● 1 cup Cognac brandy
● 1 cup aged Jamaican rum
● 1 cup tea and citrus cordial
● Ice
● Grated nutmeg
Mix together in a punch bowl Cognac, rum and cordial. Fill the bowl a third of the way with ice. Let cool. Ladle into punch glasses. Garnish with grated nutmeg.
