{"id":1901,"date":"2011-06-21T16:33:25","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T23:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/?p=1901"},"modified":"2011-06-21T08:34:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-21T15:34:05","slug":"review-the-punch-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/?p=1901","title":{"rendered":"Review – The Punch Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweet, sour, spice, water and alcohol.\u00c2\u00a0 Those are the five, seemingly simple, components of every good punch.\u00c2\u00a0 But, I’ll ask you this.\u00c2\u00a0 Have you ever tried to come up with your own punch?\u00c2\u00a0 Was it good?\u00c2\u00a0 What about great?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m willing to bet, coming from past experience, that it wasn’t amazing.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re lucky it was really good, but more than likely it was somewhere in the range of pretty okay to just good.\u00c2\u00a0 The good (and bad) news is that we no longer live in a time when the quality of the punch can make or break you.<\/p>\n

In times past, a punch was your way of showing not only your culinary skills but your social status as well.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, in past centuries the ingredients that go into punch (fresh juice, spices, spirits, etc) were expensive and, in some cases, very hard to come by.\u00c2\u00a0 So, when you threw a big party you pulled out all the stops and got the best you could.\u00c2\u00a0 You mixed it all up and served it out of your very best punch bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 While the times of showing your status with punch may be gone, the times of enjoying a really good punch certainly are not.<\/p>\n

\"TheThat brings us back to my original problem, where do you find the guidance to make some really epic punch?\u00c2\u00a0 A great place to start is the recipes of times past.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, even better, start in the pages of Dan Searing’s The Punch Bowl<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 In this book Dan starts things off with a history of punch and the punch bowl, amazing pictures of which are sprinkled throughout the book.<\/p>\n

After the history section he gives a great intro on punch making pointing out some of the key lessons that apply as much to punch as to good cocktails.\u00c2\u00a0 My favorites that he calls out are the use of good spirits and a great conversion chart for old recipes.\u00c2\u00a0 Dan points out a key factor when choosing spirits for punch, go with good stuff, but don’t go crazy.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, a top dollar cognac is going to be wasted on a punch.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead opt for a high quality, but far less expensive, brandy.\u00c2\u00a0 Following that, I love the chart for converting old measures to something more familiar.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean, really, do you know what the hell a gill is?\u00c2\u00a0 How about a puncheon?\u00c2\u00a0 Yeah, me neither.<\/p>\n

Prep aside, Dan gets to the meat of this topic, the recipes.\u00c2\u00a0 He includes 75 recipes spanning all categories and base spirits.\u00c2\u00a0 Included are classics such as Rum Punch, Tiki staples like the Scorpion Bowl and modern creations from top notch bartenders.\u00c2\u00a0 Each recipe states where it originated (and the its circa date), a brief description, how many servings (4-6 oz punch cups) it will produce and, most importantly, concise measures and directions.\u00c2\u00a0 The finish and production quality of this book that really bear mentioning.\u00c2\u00a0 The book is hardbound, with heavy, glossy pages.\u00c2\u00a0 The pictures are bright and vivid and the punch bowls alone are enough to keep you turning the pages.\u00c2\u00a0 I think this would make a great host(ess) gift.<\/p>\n

This book arrived just at the right time.\u00c2\u00a0 I had a burning need to make some drinks for a party I was throwing and punch fit the bill perfectly.\u00c2\u00a0 I leafed through the pages and found a quick punch that sounded super tasty.\u00c2\u00a0 The resulting libation was easy to mix up, balanced and fruity and packed enough punch (pun intended) to keep the party going strong.<\/p>\n

\"Dry<\/a><\/p>\n

Dry Gin Punch (The Punch Bowl)<\/strong><\/pre>\n
1 Quart Orange Juice\r\n3\/4 cup Lemon Juice\r\n1\/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Grenadine\r\n3 cups London Dry Gin\r\n1 quart Seltzer Water\r\n2 Lemons, Sliced\r\n1 Orange, Sliced<\/strong><\/pre>\n
1) Pour the orange juice, lemon juice and grenadine into a large bowl,\r\nand stir well.\u00c2\u00a0 Slowly add the gin, and stir well.\r\n2) Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator, and chill for 2 hours.\r\n3) To serve, pour the punch over a block of ice that has been set in\r\na large punch bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 Add the seltzer water, and stir gently.\u00c2\u00a0 Garnish\r\nthe punch with the fruit slices.<\/strong><\/pre>\n
I learned a few things from this punch experience.\u00c2\u00a0 First, punch is freaking delicious.\u00c2\u00a0 Second, I need a legit punch bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 My ceramic bowl and old fashioned glasses worked, but it didn’t properly show my social status. ;) Third, make more punch than you think you’ll need.\u00c2\u00a0 Trust me on this one.<\/p>\n
\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a0 The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample.  If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sweet, sour, spice, water and alcohol.\u00c2\u00a0 Those are the five, seemingly simple, components of every good punch.\u00c2\u00a0 But, I’ll ask you this.\u00c2\u00a0 Have you ever tried to come up with your own punch?\u00c2\u00a0 Was it good?\u00c2\u00a0 What about great?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m willing to bet, coming from past experience, that it wasn’t amazing.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re lucky it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,6,36],"tags":[204,10,207],"class_list":["post-1901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-recipes","category-review","tag-books","tag-recipe","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1901"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1912,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions\/1912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocktailhacker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}