Arrack Punch
Historical Recipes
"Bartenders Guide", By Jerry Thomas, 1862
- Take 2 wine-glasses of Batavia Arrack (old).
- 3 wine-glasses of Jamaica rum.
- Sweeten to taste with loaf-sugar dissolved in hot water.
Lemons and limes are also matter of palate, but two lemons are enough for the above quantity ; put then an equal quantity of water—i.e., not five but six glasses to allow for the lemon juice, and you have three very pretty tumblers of punch.
"The Ideal Bartender", By Tom Bullock, 1917
Pour into a Punch glass the Juice of 1 Lime and a little Apollinaris Water in which a heaping teaspoonful of Bar Sugar has been dissolved. Add:
- 1 Lump Ice.
- 3/4 jigger Batavia Arrack.
- 1/4 Jigger Jamaica Rum.
Stir well; dash with Champagne; stir again briskly; dress with Fruit and Serve.
Historical Citations
"STAGECOACH and TAVERN DAYS", Alice Morse Earle, 1900
"Another universal and potent colonial drink was punch. It came to the English colonies in America from the English colonies in India. To the Orientals we owe punch - as many other good things. The word is from the Hindustani panch, five, referring to the five ingredients then used in the drink, namely: tea, arrack, sugar, lemons, water.
In 1675 one Tryer drank punch in India and, like the poor thing that he was, basely libelled it as an enervating liquor. The English took very quickly to the new drink, as they did to everything else in India, and soon the word appeared in English ballads, showing that punch was well known."
"The Ohio Democrat", 18th July 1873
"Arrack punch is announced on the show-cards in some fashionable bar rooms. Persons who drink it say that it is apt to give a racking headache."
The Times, of London, 14th January 1788
"With the highest respect to the memory of the late Doctor Walsh--we hope it will not be the incompatible that we mention a small circumstance in relation to him, illustrative of that propensity so eminently characteristic of the gentlemen of Ireland.--The Doctor, sometime previous to his death, had made one of a white-bait party to Gravesend;--The gentlemen, after dinner, agreed on arrack punch for their beverage; and the Doctor, who was an excellent composer of that liquor, was requested to act as apothecary on the occasion. On taking the sense of the company as to the quality of the composition, some proposed the addition of acid, others that of sugar, more of spirit--" I'll tell you what, gentlemen," said the Doctor, "the punch may not be quite so good as you could with, but by G-d if you MEND it at all, you'll entirely SPOIL it."
"The Light of Nature Pursued", By Abraham Tucker, 1768
"...water, arrack, orange juice and sugar, compose punch, which we reckon a new production, because it affects our senses with a taste and appearance the several ingredients had not before."
"The Craftsman; or SAY's Weekly Journal", 12th September, 1767
"...where the company had drank liberally of arrack punch..."
The Public Register Or Freemans Journal, of Dublin, 12th March 1765
"...the Officer entertained him with a Dinner, and Arrack Punch,..."
"The Proceedings of the Old Bailey", 16th January 1735
"...He asked me to drink a Glass of Punch, and so I went in, and he and I drank four or five Bowls of Arrack Punch..."
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