"Caloric"?

[eje]

A friend recently asked what was usually meant by "Caloric" in cocktail recipes.

I gave the usual answer that it is synonymous with Swedish Punsch.

Then I began to wonder about why it was called "Caloric" and realized I had no idea.

Was it viewed as some sort of nutritional supplement?

Or was "Caloric" just a brand of bottled punch?

Same or similar character to Swedish Punsch?

[thirtyoneknots]

A friend recently asked what was usually meant by "Caloric" in cocktail recipes.

I gave the usual answer that it is synonymous with Swedish Punsch.

Then I began to wonder about why it was called "Caloric" and realized I had no idea.

Was it viewed as some sort of nutritional supplement?

Or was "Caloric" just a brand of bottled punch?

Same or similar character to Swedish Punsch?

←

Could it have something to do with Scandanavians drinking it to warm themselves up?

[slkinsey]

cocktailDB says...

Cederlund's Caloric Punch

Proprietary venerable brand of Swedish punch liqueur (which see). The least smoky of the available brands.

wikipedia says...

Punsch (also known as Arrack Punch, Caloric Punch, Punch or Punsch) is a traditional liqueur in Sweden and to a lesser extent some other Nordic countries produced from arrack, neutral spirits, sugar, water, and various flavorings.

Edited March 17, 2009 by slkinsey (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Ah yes, all that that Mr. Kinsey says. Didn't read the original questions carefully and missed that aspect of the query; thought you were asking why Swedish Punsch was also called Caloric Punch.

[eje]

Could it have something to do with Scandanavians drinking it to warm themselves up?

←

Maybe? I found a number of books referring to Swedes from the North being particularly fond of the stuff.

This quote via Google Books from an 1898 book called "Through Arctic Lapland" by Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne:

The Northern Swede is a cheerful, bourgeois creature, all belly and laugh, who browses on odds and ends of victual, and nips caloric punch all the day long; and for the short time we were with him in Haparanda, he amused us.  But then we were not with him for long.  The educated Swede of Stockholm is a very different person: he is a gentleman, and one of the most delightful gentleman in Europe.

I dunno, The Northern Swede sounds pretty good to me...

[thirtyoneknots]

The Northern Swede is a cheerful, bourgeois creature, all belly and laugh, who browses on odds and ends of victual, and nips caloric punch all the day long; and for the short time we were with him in Haparanda, he amused us.  But then we were not with him for long.  The educated Swede of Stockholm is a very different person: he is a gentleman, and one of the most delightful gentleman in Europe.

I dunno, The Northern Swede sounds pretty good to me...

←

Seems like there's an implication that the Stockholm guy is not that far from the northerner, he just dresses a little nicer, trims his beard more regularly, and doesn't laugh as loud in public. They both sound pretty cool.

[eas]

So I'll quote my colleague on the punsch project, and he's had a long day so this may bear further explanation, but here goes: "Well the name Caloric was first used by Company Cederlund in the 1860. The name came from a machine “ the Caloric engine” that the inventor John Ericsson created around the 1860. It was a common thing to do take machines, buildings or events and turn them into brand names."

[slkinsey]

Ericsson's Caloric Engine; This motor may be confidently pronounced one of the greatest boons which the ingenuity of man has ever bestowed upon his race.

Also known as a hot air engine.