Philadelphia Fish House Punch

This past weekend, we got an invite to a little pre-Thanksgiving pie party and I volunteered to bring a cocktail, because, well, it's kind of what I do. I did some digging around and settled on Philadelphia Fish House Punch. Imbibe Magazine did a good write-up of some of the history of the drink; make sure you click that link. The punch was created in 1732 (1732!!) in a Philadelphia fishing club, the State in Schuylkill. The father of our nation, one George Washington, was fond of the punch, and it's said that he once drank so much Fish House Punch that he couldn't write in his diary for the next three days. After this experience, I can't say I blame him.

I always feel like making a drink at a party without testing it out first is risky, but I flew by the seat of my pants with this one. The list of ingredients (peach brandy, rum, and brandy) led me to think that it would be safe, so I took the plunge. I got this particular version of the recipe from Bon Appetit magazine, but there are a ton of different versions out there, including one in that Imbibe article and one in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. The recipes are all fairly similar, with slightly different ingredients and ratios.

The recipe I made was (and you're going to need a really big bowl to mix this up):

• 1 1/4 cup of sugar (mix this 1:1 with hot water to make simple syrup)
• 1 liter of Jamaican Gold rum (I used Appleton)
• 2 cups cognac (Disclaimer: I know nothing about brandy or cognac, but I do know that cognac was way more expensive than brandy. I went with brandy, specifically Korbel XS.)
• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice
• 1 cup peach liqueur (I have no shame--I used Mr. Boston's Peach Schnapps.)

First off, you're going to want to make a big block of ice. We have a bunch of peaches in the freezer, so we put some in a Bundt pan with some thyme springs (the recipe called for this, I certainly didn't make it up), added water, and froze. This actually turned out pretty cool. Now that your ice is freezing, you can combine the ingredients. Add in the simple syrup, rum, cognac (or brandy), lemon juice, and peach liqueur. Throw in AT LEAST six cups of cold water. You could really probably add like eight or nine cups and it would not cut the strength of the punch. I have a Soda Stream, so I fizzed up a couple liters of water so I could use fizzy instead of flat water. I used about a liter and a half (about 7-ish cups if my math is right), but I should have put both liters in. The fizzy water was a nice addition. Stir everything thoroughly and carefully place the ice block in, peach side up.

This was a bigger hit than I was expecting at the party (these folks tend to be wine drinkers for the most part). The only real downside is that the punch is deceptively strong, it doesn't taste boozy at all. By the time I finished two small cups (approximately one cup each), I was pretty well drunk. The darn thing was just so tasty and I felt like the water didn't thin it too much (it was slightly syrup-y)--this is why I think more water would be a good addition, to make it less syrup-y and less potent. It was peachy and sweet and a tiny bit sour all at once. If you don't want to make a big batch, I bet there are recipes out there that cut it down to single-serving sizes.