I’ve sung the praises of punches before – they make it so easy to
entertain a group while enjoying the party yourself!
My friend found this punch in Garden & Gun and made it for her
sister’s engagement party, and we ended up making it twice this
holiday season – once for our Christmas party, and again with my
family at Christmas. I think serving a punch is fun and a bit unusual,
and a bourbon punch especially so. Also, bourbon seems to be very ‘in’
at the moment. In short, everyone raved about the punch (both times!).
The red punch and green mint garnish make this Christmas-y, which was
perfect for our needs, but I don’t think it would be weird to serve in
the coming weeks. In fact, I think the warming of bourbon and ginger
is great for winter!
Ingredients:
- 8 cinnamon sticks
- 750 ml bottle of bourbon
- 8 oz granulated sugar
- 4 oz fresh ginger juice (if you have a juicer, this is super easy.
otherwise, you’ll have to use a blender to puree and squeeze by
hand…) - 4 oz lemon juice
- 4 oz unsweetened cranberry juice
- 6 oz Malmsey Madeira (this is a bit expensive, our friends
recommended substituting tawny port, which worked great) - 24 oz sparkling or soda water
Garnishes:
- Fresh nutmeg
- 2 bunches fresh mint
- Two 12-oz bags fresh cranberries
Toast the cinnamon sticks and let sit in bourbon overnight. Combine
the remaining ingredients in a punch bowl, then gently mix in the
sparkling. Serve over ice and with garnishes. Cheers!
The recipe is from Garden & Gun:
A Knockout Bourbon Punch
