126 replies to this topic

[Tiare]

Thomas' Arrack Punch Variation  II

1 cup Appleton V/X Rum
1/2 cup Batavia Arrack
1 cup hot extra strong tea (2 tsp Peet’s Lung Ching Dragonwell tea brewed in 1 cup water)
1 cup sugar
1 lemon sliced thinly, seeds removed
1 lime sliced thinly, seeds removed

Put sliced lemon and lime in a resealable non-reactive container large enough to hold 4 cups of liquid. Pour Rum and Batavia Arrack over citrus. Cover and steep for 6 hours.

Dissolve sugar in hot tea and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate.

After 6 hours, pour rum off of sliced citrus, without squeezing fruit.

Combine tea syrup and flavored rum. Filter and bottle in a clean sealable container. Age at least overnight.

---

Tried this room temp, straight and found the bitterness of the lime a little overwhelming.

On the rocks, however, it was pretty darn tasty.

I have all the ingr except for that tea which i doubt i will find here, is there any other similar (and common) tea i can use?

[eje]

I have all the ingr except for that tea which i doubt i will find here, is there any other similar (and common) tea i can use?

Try an Asian Market.

It's also sometimes called "Long Jing" in English.

Another loose leaf Chinese Green Tea of some sort? Just not a Jasmine Tea. That would probably be pretty bad.

There are so many, it's hard to know what you have, what might be available, or what it might be called.

Looks like this, with the leaves in long needle-like bundles:

Long Jing

Edited by eje, 21 May 2008 - 02:33 PM.

[eje]

I have all the ingr except for that tea which i doubt i will find here, is there any other similar (and common) tea i can use?

[...]

Haha! I can't believe a Swede is asking me for advice on Arrack Punch!

Mange tusen tak! You've done wonders for my self esteem!

[Tiare]

I have all the ingr except for that tea which i doubt i will find here, is there any other similar (and common) tea i can use?

[...]

Haha! I can't believe a Swede is asking me for advice on Arrack Punch!

Mange tusen tak! You've done wonders for my self esteem!

Hm..it was the tea i was asking about..not the arrak... but ok..the punch then, you win.

Edited by Tiare, 21 May 2008 - 03:35 PM.

[slkinsey]

I have all the ingr except for that tea which i doubt i will find here, is there any other similar (and common) tea i can use?

Try an Asian Market.

It's also sometimes called "Long Jing" in English.

Another loose leaf Chinese Green Tea of some sort? Just not a Jasmine Tea. That would probably be pretty bad.

There are so many, it's hard to know what you have, what might be available, or what it might be called.

Looks like this, with the leaves in long needle-like bundles:

Long Jing

So, you used a green tea rather than a black tea? Don't you figure the original probably called for black tea?

[eje]

So, you used a green tea rather than a black tea?  Don't you figure the original probably called for black tea?

Hmm...

I thought I was being pretty clear by calling it, "Thomas' Arrack Punch Variation II." that I wasn't making a replica. Guess not.

When I'm making liqueurs for myself, at home, I'm always trying to think of ways to change or improve them. I don't see any reason to make the same thing exactly the same way twice. Not like I'm selling them or making a menu item.

In this case, I purchased two organic lemons with the intent of making it to the recipe I'd used before. Turned out, by the time I got to making the punch, one of the lemons was not in great shape. So I used a lime and a lemon. When it came time to make the tea syrup, I was going through the various teas in my cabinet and for some reason the Dragonwell seemed a more appropriate and interesting choice with the lime in the picture. When it was done, I tasted it and liked it. The intersection of lime and green tea was as interesting as I had hoped.

I had some friends try it and most were pretty positive.

So I thought I would post the recipe.

[eje]

Fantastic MxMo blog post here by Tiare regarding the history of Swedish Punsch (and not just because she mentions my punch recipe):

THE SWEDISH PUNSCH - Asian distillate becomes a Swedish tradition.

For my city Stockholm i haven`t found any special regional cocktail with a traditional connection to the city itself, but i live in the land of the swedish punsch which is the most local flavor or product that i can find. Its mainly consumed in the midsummer celebrations, along with other spirits and traditional midsummer food. Its also an old tradition to drink the punsch to pea soup.

This should be a magazine article!

[mbrowley]

I concur. Something about one of your recipes bothered me a little, Erik, though and it didn't take long for me to put my finger on it—I'm cheap. Er, that is, I'm always trying to squeeze as much value as I can from life and I saw some opportunity in the lemon slices that macerate in the rum and arrack for your Tales version of punsch.

I've had luck with lemon pies and the old Shaker recipes that call for very thinly sliced lemons seemed a decent match for the lemon slices we'd otherwise just throw out after making a batch.

So a pie was in order. Not a cocktail, of course, but lemons, rum, arrack, sugar, and a dose of finished punsch baked in a shell and inspired in part by this thread.

Here's the recipe for lemon punsch pie. And, by the way, we're nearly halfway through the scaled-down one-liter batch. I should have made more, but want to play around with more tea varieties, especially a large dose of dragon eyes longan tea I have from In Pursuit of Tea. Authentic? Maybe not. Tasty? I'd lay money on it...At this rate, we'll need a new batch of punsch next week, so I'll let you know.

Fantastic MxMo blog post here by Tiare regarding the history of Swedish Punsch (and not just because she mentions my punch recipe):

THE SWEDISH PUNSCH - Asian distillate becomes a Swedish tradition.

For my city Stockholm i haven`t found any special regional cocktail with a traditional connection to the city itself, but i live in the land of the swedish punsch which is the most local flavor or product that i can find. Its mainly consumed in the midsummer celebrations, along with other spirits and traditional midsummer food. Its also an old tradition to drink the punsch to pea soup.

This should be a magazine article!

[Chris Amirault]

I made Erik's underhill lounge Tales punsch tonight. I haven't a clew as to whether it's "authentic" or not, but it's mighty tasty. I'm eager to give it a go in some vintage recipes for Swedish punsch.

Question for the punschers: a few receipts include vanilla extract. Yes? No? Maybe so?

[Chris Amirault]

Oh, and: what should I make with this stuff?

[thirtyoneknots]

Oh, and: what should I make with this stuff?

The Doctor Cocktail is a fine showcase for Punsch:

1.5 oz Amber rum (Appleton V/X particularly fine here imo)
.75 Punsch
.75 lime

shake/strain/up

I find that basing liqueurs or infusions off of Demerara rum can cause them to clash a tad with other spirits, so distinctive is it's character, but the earlier version I made with Mt. Gay is delicious here.

[eje]

I made Erik's underhill lounge Tales punsch tonight. I haven't a clew as to whether it's "authentic" or not, but it's mighty tasty. I'm eager to give it a go in some vintage recipes for Swedish punsch.

Well, that recipe is based on two recipes from the version of Jerry Thomas' book on Darcy's Art of Drink site. The Imperial Arrack Punch and United Service Punch. If I remember correctly, one had citrus and one had tea. I used both citrus and tea. I also added cardamom. I've been tweaking it for about a year and a half now.

Current large version:

Underhill Punsch IIIa

2 750ml Bottles of Appleton V/X Rum
1 750ml Bottle Batavia Arrack van Oosten.
8 lemons, sliced thin and seeded.
750ml Water.
8 teaspoons Yunnan Fancy China Black Tea.
4 crushed cardamom pods.
4 cups Washed Raw Sugar.

This makes a bit more than 3 litres.

Put sliced lemon in a resealable non-reactive container(s). Pour Rum and Batavia Arrack over lemons. Cover and steep 8 hours.

Heat water and steep tea and cardamom in it for 6 minutes. Pour through cheesecloth to remove tea leaves and cardamom pods.

Dissolve sugar in hot tea and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate.

After 8 hours, pour rum off of sliced citrus, without squeezing fruit.

Combine tea syrup and flavored rum. Filter and bottle in a clean sealable container(s). Age at least overnight and enjoy where Swedish Punch is called for.

Biffy Cocktail, Doctor Cocktail, Corpse Reviver No. 2, etc. Just search through the Savoy topic for "Swedish". It's funny, given many folks seemingly instinctive dislike to Batavia Arrack, how popular this recipe has become. A lot of people seem to like it just on the rocks or with some selzer.

Edited by eje, 19 October 2008 - 12:35 PM.

[Mike S.]

Erik, can you think of any reason why this recipe wouldn't scale down well? I'd love to try it but I'm leary of producing 3L of the stuff at one go. I may try a 1/3 batch unless you think it would not work that way.

[eje]

Erik, can you think of any reason why this recipe wouldn't scale down well?  I'd love to try it but I'm leary of producing 3L of the stuff at one go.  I may try a 1/3 batch unless you think it would not work that way.

Absolutely!

I've made one this size and it worked fine:

1 cup Appleton V/X Rum
1/2 cup Batavia Arrack
1 cup hot extra strong tea (2 tsp Chinese Black Tea tea brewed in 1 cup water)
1 cup sugar
2 lemon sliced thinly, seeds removed

[Chris Amirault]

That's what I made, in fact, with some substitutions (Lemon Hart rums and a different tea). It's terrific.

[Chris Amirault]

Bumping this back up as I'm working my way through another batch of Erik's splendid punsch and made this:

The Doctor Cocktail is a fine showcase for Punsch:

1.5 oz Amber rum (Appleton V/X particularly fine here imo)
.75 Punsch
.75 lime

shake/strain/up

It's in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails, too, which is where I found it.

[goatghost]

I was just wondering if anyone has any updates on the availability of Swedish Punsch in the U.S.

I've seen that Batavia Arrack is now available in the U.S. ($30), but I'm kind of leery about shelling out $30 for an experimental batch, which may or may not (depending on who you ask) resemble the real deal...lol

Does anyone know if Carlshamns Flaggpunsch is available in either Canada or Mexico? I would consider taking a walk across the border if I can pick up a bottle. I haven't been able to confirm if this stuff might be available there, either.

Edited by goatghost, 25 March 2011 - 06:10 PM.

[Ian McCarthy]

Goatghost:

The Batavia Arrack Van Oosten is a truly phenomenal, one-of-a-kind product. The truth is, you can mix it with some other ingredients, call it "Punsch", and use it in recipes that call for said Punsch to really fantastic effect. Authentic? I'm no Swede, and I'm not sitting on any vintage bottles.

Even if you have absolutely no interest in making Swedish Punsch, do yourself a favor and get some Van Oosten.

Edited by Ian McCarthy, 26 March 2011 - 01:17 PM.

[tanstaafl2]

I was also on the search for Swedish Punsch as a result of the wonderful book by Doc Cocktail when I found this. Perhaps it has been mentioned elsewhere but was surprised it was not in this thread.

Swedish Punsch

Note the article, which was written in May 2011, says the new "Kronan" will be available this summer. Well, summer is about gone so I pushed my liquor contact for an update and he indicated it was still waiting for distillation time at the distillery in Sweden. So it presumably is still coming but the timeline for availability is still unknown, at least locally for me.

Perhaps someone here has more insight on the status? Meanwhile I continue to search out friends and acquaintances going to London or Europe to try to get some. Thought I had a chance last week for some Carlshamns from London but they weren't able to come through for me.

I am not likely to go myself until next summer so if I can't find my own personal Punsch "mule" then I will have to wait for either the Kronan or until I can go myself!

But my shopping list is already pretty long...

[thirtyoneknots]

I was assured last week that the Kronan, much like T-Pain, is on a boat. You will not be disappointed.

[Sunny&Rummy]

I was assured last week that the Kronan, much like T-Pain, is on a boat. You will not be disappointed.

I am greatly looking forward to that boat landing!

[tanstaafl2]

I was assured last week that the Kronan, much like T-Pain, is on a boat. You will not be disappointed.

I am greatly looking forward to that boat landing!

As am I!

T-Pain sounds interesting. Now if I only knew what T-Pain was...

[KD1191]

Perhaps someone here has more insight on the status? Meanwhile I continue to search out friends and acquaintances going to London or Europe to try to get some. Thought I had a chance last week for some Carlshamns from London but they weren't able to come through for me.

I was able to purchase some Carlshamns Flaggpunsch "on a boat" last spring...specifically, from the the duty free of an overnight car ferry between Göteborg, Sweden and Kiel, Germany while taking our factory-new Volvo over for a test drive on the autobahn.

[eas]

For those waiting on the Kronan, it's (clearly) had countless delays and just now awaiting an open slot for production back in Sweden. I'll post once on the water with more details.

[thirtyoneknots]

Ack, my intel was bad. C'est la bar.

[tanstaafl2]

It would seem the ship has finally arrived. Kronan Swedish Punsch makes an appearance on an Esquire list and is being featured in the Jan/Feb issue of Imbibe where it is noted to be available at K&L.

Doesn't do me much good as K&L won't ship to Georgia. I suspect it is not licensed here either yet although I will promptly start trying to make some waves tomorrow in my ongoing effort to buy everything Haus Alpenz produces (I picked up a bottle of Nux Alpina Walnut liqueur the other day on close out).

I see it is also at Astor though so if I have no luck locally I suppose I can bite the bullet and order it there. Will be a good time to sample some of the Bitterman's new spirits as well (which were also featured on the Esquire list of 2011 bottles you will want to try).

Anybody else seen it yet?

Edited by tanstaafl2, 29 December 2011 - 04:48 PM.

[mukki]

I've been looking forward to trying this and live near K&L, but nobody there seems to have heard of it. Hoping that will change soon.

[tanstaafl2]

I've been looking forward to trying this and live near K&L, but nobody there seems to have heard of it. Hoping that will change soon.

Perhaps Imbibe magazine has jumped the gun. Pretty sure it listed K&L as the source but will check when I get home as I could have disremembered...

But it is not coming up on the K&L website.

It is on Astor though at $30 a pop.

Plus shipping of couse!

[tanstaafl2]

I've been looking forward to trying this and live near K&L, but nobody there seems to have heard of it. Hoping that will change soon.

Perhaps Imbibe magazine has jumped the gun. Pretty sure it listed K&L as the source but will check when I get home as I could have disremembered...

But it is not coming up on the K&L website.

It is on Astor though at $30 a pop.

Plus shipping of course!

Checked and Imbibe does indeed list K&L as the source so that seems a bit odd. Might mention this to them if you go by there again! Contacted Drink Up NY but they indicated they had no plans to add it to their inventory and that the supplier wouldn't sell loose bottles for a special order.

Kind of annoying. In fact I don't think I have ever had a shopping list of items that I can't seem to find locally that I can order from a single supplier. There is always at least one thing they don't seem to carry.

Just Tanstaafl's Corollary to Murphy's Law in action I suppose...

[slkinsey]

Just picked up two bottles at Astor. Will report back (not that I really have any frame of reference).