According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the centuries-old drink known as punch has found a lot of contemporary fans in the bar scene, as it both appeals to contemporary clientele and is the next step in the cocktail renaissance currently taking place nationwide.
“The punch bowl encourages a different way of drinking and interacting with people,” said Robert Haynes, senior bartender at The Violet Hour in Chicago, which is one of a growing number of venues that offers entire bowls of punch to groups of guests. The modern speakeasy has punches that date back to the 18th and 19th centuries made with cognac, Jamaican dark rum, green tea, lemon peels muddled with sugar, peach bitters and dry Riesling wine.
“You enjoy the punch, but it becomes less about the drink and more about the communal experience, sitting around the punch bowl and ladling it out to your friends,” said Haynes.
“Punch is here to stay,” said Willy Shine of Contemporary Cocktails, a New York-based bar consultancy. “In fact, this summer I think it is going to become even more popular, like pitchers of cocktails were in previous years.”
Shine is a member of Cocktail Collective, a group of mixologists from around the country who put together the 13-item punch list of Fort Four, a bar and restaurant in New York’s Royalton Hotel. The Martha Washington is one of the signature punches, which combines white and 12-year-old rums, Grand Marnier, fresh lemon and orange juice, and nutmeg. The Shoe Buckle is another punch made up of Jameson Irish Whiskey, Guinness draft, Carpano Antica Formula and Ramazzotti Amaro, priced at $135.
Arlington, Virginia-based Interstate Hotels & Resorts offer a punch program for catering after noticing the affinity that punch has with social events. It is an appealing option for catering guests at a time when budgets are still limited. Bradley Moore, corporate director of food and beverage operations, said that their Mojito, mimosa and cran-apple cider punches made with sparkling wine and a variety of fresh fruits, juices, spirits, and liqueurs, “have increased the sagging beverage sales in catering.”
