Gaelic Punch

For this simple hot punch from renowned cocktail historian David Wondrich, you’ll need a young Irish whiskey, hot water, raw sugar, lemon, clove, and freshly grated nutmeg. 

Punch is the original “mixed drink,” predating the classic cocktail canon by a few hundred years. Widely thought to be the earliest form of a cocktail, the combination of spirit, spice, sugar, and citrus, dates to at least the 17th century. 

Wondrich, author of Punch, or the Delights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl, traces some of the earliest punch recipes to the early 1600s when British sailors took part in the British East India Trade. Thousands of miles from the beer and wine with which they were familiar, they embraced this mix of spirits, juices, and spices. Soon, they brought these recipes home, and the Age of Punch began. 

The origins of the word punch are said to have come from a Hindi word for five, possibly in reference to the amount of ingredients traditionally used. 

Rum was often the base spirit of many early punch recipes and the use of multiple spices and ingredients may have come about to mask inferior spirits. The hot whiskey punch was a British invention — due to the product availability and the long, cold winter seasons — and often included both Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky.

Though many use the terms “toddy” and “punch” interchangeably, the accepted historic distinction between the two is that if it had lemon, it was a punch, and if not, it was a toddy (though lemon is often a key ingredient in a modern Hot Toddy). When heated, however, the acid in the lemon tends to be more corrosive, and therefore, only the peel is used rather than the juice in a hot punch.

How to make a Gaelic Punch

This straightforward recipe includes the traditional layers of spirit, sugar, citrus, and spice, and has been scaled up for a larger crowd. 

Wondrich recommends using a younger Irish whiskey in this recipe, as an older whiskey may come off too tannic when heated. This younger, bright spirit can shine once warmed alongside the lemon zest, heady cloves, and fresh nutmeg.

The punch recipe has undergone many transformations since the 1600s, which should give you all the more freedom to tweak the ingredients to taste. — Prairie Rose