Original source: David Wondrich

Directions

Step 1: At least 24 hours before you intend to serve the punch, make a giant block of ice by filling a tupperware or other container with water and freezing it. Ideal size is one quart.

Step 2: Also at least a day before, create the magic ingredient for this whole style of punch: oleo saccharum (dog latin for “oily sugar”). Peel four lemons in unbroken spirals: the unbrokenness is mostly for style points. It’s also much easier to peel fresh lemons, as the oil in lemon peels dries out over time. Put the peels in a mason jar with 6 oz (¾ cup) of white sugar. Seal the jar, shake it to cover the peels with sugar, then leave it overnight.

(Save the lemons you peeled in a resealable bag in the refrigerator: if you make the punch soon enough, they will produce exactly the right amount of jusice for step three. You don’t have to: the oleo saccharum will last for ages, but the lemons won’t. You can always use new lemons.)

Don’t refrigerate it. The peels will appear to melt as the sugar draws out the oil them. If you pop open the lid for a second and take a sniff, it will smell delicious.

Step 3: Two hours before you serve the punch, unseal the mason jar, add 6 oz (¾ cup) fresh-squeezed, strained lemon juice, reseal and shake until all the sugar has dissolved. Now put it in the refrigerator.

Step 4: Assemble the punch.

Notes

I’ve made this a number of times over the years, and I even went to a cocktail class at the 2022 Hukilau where David Wondrich himself taught how to make it. The educational value for me was a little less than for the other attendees, but I still really enjoyed getting to meet him. I’m posting it here and adding my notes because you never know when an article on the internet’s going to disappear or go behind a paywall.

The VSOP Cognac should be a good one–I like Pierre Ferrand Cognac 1840 Original Formula, which seems tailor-made for something like this. But don’t make the mistake of asking your average liquor store attendant for a recommendation, since the moment you mention “punch” they’ll recommend garbage. The public’s perception is that punch is unsophisticated frat-party fare. This, obviously, is a different beast.

For the rum, I recommend Planteray’s Xaymaca. I like it significantly better than Smith & Cross in this context. Smith & Cross I usually like in basically anything, but it has what I would describe as a metallic edge when used in this punch. It’s good, but Xaymaca has a slightly warmer or mellower resonance that works better here. I also suspect Hamilton’s Pot Still Dark would be good. You need something with that Jamaican rum heft: it’s the part that expands the punch from something the thinner taste of just the cognac.

If you like making punches, you’ll want a good punch bowl. I picked a beautiful, interesting looking brass punch bowl off of eBay. (It looks like this one.) It’s impressive, but it has also soaked up hours and hours of my life in polishing and cleaning, and it also shows every bump it’s ever taken as a permament dent. I wouldn’t buy it again. But it’s hard to find glass punch bowls that don’t look like they belong at a church potluck.

Also, if you make a lot of punches and/or tiki drinks, you’ll probably want a really nice nutmeg grater someday.