The Los Angeles Times takes a look at a growing cocktailian trend -- massive bowls of traditional mixed drink punches, designed for sharing. It's all part of the classic mixology movement that has taken hold here in New York at spots like Clover Club, Death & Company and even my local hang Jack the Horse Tavern:
It seems natural that the revival of classic cocktails that has returned pre-Prohibition drinks and a drinking culture to stardom would shore up punch, which predates the cocktail but fell out of favor in the 19th century. "For nearly 200 years, from the 1670s to the 1850s, the Kingdom of Mixed Drinks was ruled by the Bowl of Punch," writes cocktail historian David Wondrich in his book "Imbibe!" The title of his next book says it all, or a lot, anyway: "Punches, or the Delights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl" (to be published in 2010).
Its delights are apparent, and maybe its dangers are too -- punch can be potent stuff. "The famous punch parties of the 18th century were knock-down, drag-out affairs," Wondrich says, when men with "extraordinarily bad habits" made fantastic punches.
No surprise, The Vamp already hosted a FEW parties that featured a mammoth bowl of powerful punch -- and it looks like my bartender bud Max will be whipping up another wickedly potent punch for an upcoming fête as well.
Gosh, aren't I a fabulously retro-trendy lush?!?
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