Curacao Punch

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                                 CURACAO PUNCH

I love the entire concept of Punch.   It is communal, it does not require you to bartend at your own party, and the variations are endless depending on your level of creativity.   The inspiration for this article comes from one of my very favorite books in my home library, “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails”.  If you are a lover of classic cocktails, find this one and buy it right now!  It is full of recipes I have never heard of, along with great stories of their origin. When I read about the Curacao Punch it looked so good I not only decided to write about it but made myself one as well.  (It was fantastic). The Curacao Punch recipe was in Harry Johnson’s 1882 “New and Improved Bartender’s Manual”, a true treasure in the historic cocktail book category.  Dale DeGroff calls this punch his favorite forgotten drink and you can easily see why.   One thing I love about this cocktail is that the Curacao is the primary ingredient.  Typically we see Curacao as a modifier, or a secondary ingredient, but rarely do you see it being the star of the show.  This is a very boozy drink, too, so keep that in mind.  The following is the original 1882 recipe and is written as a single cocktail, but can easily be batched and placed into a punch bowl for a group to enjoy.  (Just be sure to add the club soda at the last minute if you are serving it punch style.) 

    How to Make a Curacao Punch

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz. Orange Curacao (there are no specifics of brand in the original recipe, I used Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao and think that is the perfect choice)
  • 1 oz. Jamaican Rum (a full bodied rum is ideal, I like Appleton 12 year)
  • 1 oz. Brandy (I used Hennessy VSOP)
  • ½ teaspoon Sugar
  • 3 dashes Lemon Juice
  • 1 oz. Soda Water

The method suggests adding the sugar, soda water, and lemon juice in a goblet and “dissolving the sugar”.  It will be much easier to use ½ an ounce of simple syrup and that is what I did.   I am not a big fan of writing recipes with “dashes” of anything unless it is in a dasher bottle (such as bitters) so I substituted with ½ an ounce of lemon juice.  My dash and your dash are likely a lot different, so this process controls all of the amounts, and makes for a very balanced drink.   All that being said, this is how I made it:

In a large rocks glass (or even a snifter), add all ingredients except the soda, and stir.   Fill the glass with ice, and top with one ounce of soda water.  Garnish as you wish-- I floated a lemon and orange slice.  

Cris