Recipe: Chatham Artillery Punch

The Diva and I have thrown a big New Years Eve party every year for the past three years. What a perfect opportunity for us to try out one of the large-format punches I skipped over at the start of the book! We selected Chatham Artillery Punch, based in no small part on this limerick, attributed to Admiral George Dewey during a visit to Savannah in 1900.

When you visit the town of Savannah
Enlist 'neath the temperance bannah,
For if you should lunch,
On Artillery Punch,
It will treat you in a sorrowful mannah.

Imbibe! has lots more history about the drink itself, as well as the 118th Battalion of the Georgia National Guard, for whom it is named.

This punch was a big hit with our guests. It is nice and tart, especially if you choose to include the strawberries, which also add a nice rosy color. Start this a day or even two days before you plan to serve it, and warn your guests that this is not their ginger ale and lime sherbert high school prom punch...this is strong stuff, and delicious enough that you might not notice whether you're about to get yourself into trouble.

Chatham Artillery Punch

Adapted from Imbibe! by David Wondrich 

Yield: Enough for "a mixed party of 20," according to the original recipe. And by "enough," the author really means "enough to get exceedingly drunk." Can be scaled down.

Notes: Resist the urge to use bottled lemon juice here--the fresh citrus flavor is such a strong component of the punch that you will not get good results. Inclusion of the strawberries is optional but highly recommended. Yes, this recipe does call for white zinfandel, and trust me on this one. To improvise a large ice block, fill a large bowl with cold water and freeze overnight, then run hot water over the outside of the bowl until the block drops out.

Punch!

Ingredients:

• Juice of 30 lemons, 3 peels reserved
• 1 quart strawberries, hulled and halved (optional)
• 1 c sugar plus more to taste
• 1 gallon white zinfandel
• 1 quart St Croix-style Rum
• 2 cups strong green tea
• 1 quart rye whiskey
• 4 bottles of champagne
• 3 oranges, sliced
• 2 pineapples, sliced
• 2 large ice blocks

1. Preparing the oleo-saccharum: Peel three of the lemons, leaving behind as much of the bitter white pith as possible. Muddle the peels with the sugar and the strawberries, if using. Allow to sit for one hour, and muddle again. Add lemon juice and stir to dissolve sugar. Strain out solids.
2. For the stock: Add to the strained oleo-saccharum the wine, rum, tea, and rye. Chill, then sweeten to taste with sugar or simple syrup. Refrigerate at least 24 and up to 48 hours to allow the flavors to fully combine.
3. To assemble: Place the ice block in a punch bowl, and pour some stock over the ice. Depending on the size of your punch bowl, you may only be able to fit a quarter of the stock and one of the bottles of champagne. Garnish with sliced pineapple and orange.

Except as noted, wondRICH club blog content by Rich Fulkerson,  including text and images, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.