Wedding Reception - Need Cheap Rum Punch Recipe

[Gregg]

My daughter is getting married at the end of June. The wedding has an island theme. She wants to do a signature drink at the reception and would like it to be a variation of rum punch. The reception venue has a few rules that we will have to work within. Obviously they will provide the booze. We can provide any juices, mixers, fruit, etc. provided it all arrives unopened. Any liquor ordered that is not consumed becomes the property of the venue. We can't remove either open or still sealed bottles. My wife told me to shut up, forget it and move on. They have reasonable prices on their house liquors, exorbitant prices on call liquors and are obscene on special orders (6x cost). In other words, they run a very plain jane bar and want to keep it that way. I'd like to find a recipe that uses mostly light rum since that is what they have in our budget. I have a great recipe that uses mostly Myers dark, but that stuff will cost me $120/btl. so can't go there this round. Any of you guys have any ideas how to make the most out of generic Bacardi?

[Yojimbo]

Hate to break it to you, but there aren't too many shortcuts you can make on punch, particularly given the cost and time limitations you're stuck with. If you provide fresh fruits, will they juice them, or does everything have to be bottled? Fresh squeezed citrus is key, but do you really want to spend the morning of the big day squeezing 200 limes? Get the best quality fruit juices you can, include a bottle of orgeat with those juices to add flavor, and sneak a healthy dose of angostura bitters into the final product if they don't have any. Recipes are by the dozen on the web, go with something simple, and pour yourself something rare and special when the event's over and you can relax!

[Blether]

That's one tied-up bar, isn't it ?

I'd be surprised if any recipe that works with Myers doesn't work equally well with Bacardi, because of the nature of the rum flavour. You won't get the same drink, but the flavours will work as well together. And if you simply can't do without that dark-sugar flavour, tip in some molasses - a little at a time - till it's how you like.

[tanstaafl2]

Don't know if it is what you are looking for but the latest issue of Imbibe had a fairly simple watermelon based punch with white rum as the only spirit. Sounds summery but perhaps too casual? I think it was on page 52. It was in the section on the 50 most memorable drinks but can't recall the name or find it on the Imbibe website. Will check again when I get home and can look at the magazine.

[tanstaafl2]

The punch is called a Market Summer Bowl. Pretty simple with rum, watermelon juice and a few other simple ingredients. Don't see a link for it so might be worth looking for the May/June issue of Imbibe to see if it meets your needs.

[KatieLoeb]

Google Chinese Restaurant Cocktails and follow links or research for all those goofy tiki-style Polynesian drinks. You should be able to make a mocked up Zombie, or Scorpion Bowl style drink without too many additions. And your caterer should be providing citrus juice and mixers. For what you're likely paying them, it's the least they can do. At worst, rather than spending that morning fresh juicing, perhaps you can find fresh squeezed flash pasteurized juice either through the caterer or by looking up producers online and finding out who your local distributor is. If you're feeling daring, you could likely make a flavored simple syrup to add to your punch or make homemade ginger beer (it's easy) and add some fresh ingredients to make it more unique and tasty. If you can answer some of the prior questions, I might be able to suggest something easy that would batch up well and be relatively simple but flavorful.