Who doesn’t love a good punch, and what better punch than a Rum Punch! As it is summer here in Australia at Christmas time, Rum Punch is the perfect summer drink.
Don’t be put off by thoughts of the watery punches in glass bowls, with brown bits of bananas & sad cherries floating on top, you may have seen in the past.
There are some excellent punch mixtures around and a glass of ice cold punch will soon make your Xmas seem merry indeed!
And the good news is that a Rum Punch never goes out of fashion and is an easy way of providing drinks to the masses without having to clean out your
local liquor shop or run around topping up drinks all night!
A bit of background information. You may not know, but the basic ingredients of any good punch follow the ratios:
1 part sour
2 parts sweet
3 parts strong
4 parts weak
I have no ideas where this is derived from, but it rhymes, so it must be true. There was a song kicking about in the 1900s that followed a similar tune:
PLANTER’S PUNCH
This recipe I give to thee,
Dear brother in the heat.
Take two of sour (lime let it be)
To one and a half of sweet,
Of Old Jamaica pour three strong,
And add four parts of weak.
Then mix and drink. I do no wrong —
I know whereof I speak.
Sounds like someone drank a bit much punch to me! So what exactly does “1 part sour, 2 parts sweet, 3 parts strong, 4 parts weak” mean?
One part sour means a tart citrus juice, most commonly freshly squeezed lime juice
Two parts sweet means a simple syrup (sugar + water) or an over the counter syrup
Three parts strong means rum –of course! Though you can use white rum I only ever use golden rum in my punches
Four parts weak means it can be served over ice, or diluted with water.
A nice rum punch that I use regularly for parties is based on the Bajan Rum Punch recipe from Barbados.
1 part fresh lime juice
2 parts grenadine syrup (or equal parts white sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves)
3 parts Rum (golden or dark- your choice-but Jamaican is best!)
4 parts water
Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Combine the lime juice, syrup, rum, water, and bitters, and stir well in a tall pitcher. Pour into ice-filled glasses and grate nutmeg to garnish.
As your female friends may prefer “bubbles” in their drink, an alternative is to combine the juice, syrup & Rum & chill. Then serve over ice with a sparkling water.
Ho ho ho and a bowl of rum punch! Merry Christmas!!
Thanks for reminding me about my old friend! I retrieved the punch bowl from the cupboard and made up a batch for my latest get together with my friends. I tweaked the basic recipe you gave us by replacing the 4 parts water with 1 part orange juice, one part pineapple juice and 2 parts soda water (yes, I like the bubbles!!) And I splashed out and used Angostura to really pack a punch! The punch was a hit, and I was soon sharing the recipe. Thanks for giving me the idea.
Great stuff Jenny, any time! I love it when people try variations of our recipes – that’s one of the great things about rum, there’s always a new combination to try. Thanks for sharing yours!
Rum Punch is a staple in Jamaica, and is the perfect summertime drink. Everywhere you go, you’ll find rum punch. There are seemingly endless variations on this classic Jamaican drink, but this recipe is the most basic. This is closest to what I had most often in Jamaica. Ingredients The basic measurements are as follows: 1 part sour 2 parts sweet 3 parts strong 4 parts weak What is used for each part (sour, sweet, strong, and weak) is what provides the endless variations. What I found most often is closest to these ingredients: 1 part fresh lime juice 2 parts grenadine syrup (Note: Anchor Cherry Syrup is more traditional in Jamaica, but harder to find elsewhere.) 3 parts Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum (or Bacardi Light White Rum) 4 parts water Preparation Mix all ingredients in a pitcher or punch bowl. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve over ice.