Vanilla Punch

I'm back from vacation! We did a beautiful tour around southern Utah and northern Arizona, visiting all the national parks in the area: Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, the Grand Canyon, and lots of things in between. We've always been snobs when it comes to travel, opting for international destinations over anything in the US, but this was a humbling reminder that America is a big and stunningly beautiful country.

My reading material for the trip was Imbibe! by David Wondrich, which tells the story of the "father of American mixology" Jerry Thomas and his cocktail recipes. I know, I know, even I can't believe I hadn't read it yet. I blame that pesky dissertation. Since a lot of the book is dedicated to technique and recipes, it should properly be read at home with a full bar and plenty of time, but it's not bad when you're watching the sun set over the desert, either.

Of the first few recipes, this one caught my eye in particular. It's very simple, but extremely tasty. Nothing I can write here could possibly rival Wondrich's humorous and informative prose, but I'll tell you a few things and urge you to pick up the book yourself if you haven't already.

From the mid-17th to mid-19th centuries, punches were some of the most popular cocktails, so much so that Wondrich has devoted his second book to them entirely. They consisted of spirits, lemon, sugar, and spices and were generally shared out of a large bowl. By Jerry Thomas' day, the bowl was old-fashioned and it was more popular to make individual servings of punch to order. This Vanilla Punch is one example. It's basically a brandy sour.

In the late 19th century, ice came in large blocks from which cubes or shavings had to be cut. This recipe calls for shaved ice (crushed will do fine). It is shaken in a Boston shaker and then served in the tumbler in which it was shaken, with a straw. Straws were a good deal more popular back then, given that most folks had bad teeth that would have made it painful to sip directly from a cold drink.

Though it's a simple recipe, I enjoyed this lovely, vanilla-scented sour. The Cognac gives it a sophisticated edge that is only intensified by its venerable age and illustrious pedigree. I wonder how similar the cocktail I made actually tastes to one that Jerry Thomas might have served. I like to imagine that it's similar. In that way, all of these classic recipes are an incredible link to the past.

History: The recipe appears in Thomas' 1862 How to Mix Drinks.

Vanilla Punch

2 oz. brandy (I used Pierre Ferrand Cognac)
Juice of 1/4 lemon (roughly 1/2 oz. for me)
2 tsp. sugar (I used simple syrup)
A few drops of vanilla extract

Combine brandy, lemon juice, and sugar in a Boston shaker. Add crushed or shaved ice. Shake until well chilled. Pour into tumbler half of shaker and add vanilla on top. Serve with a slice of lemon and a straw.