The Rum Punch. One of the most iconic Cocktails, but many people think it's rarely seen these days. If you go out to a Cocktail bar, you'll rarely see "Rum Punch" on the Menu. And yet, most Bars will serve one in some shape or form.
The reason is that a Rum Punch does not have a set recipe. It's actually a formula. And if you stick to the Formula, it's actually really hard to make a bad Cocktail.
So to interpret that, all's you really need to know what the numbers refer to!
The Numbers simply refer to "Parts". And the size of that "part" is entirely down to you and the Glass, or Punch Bowl size that you're using!
If you're making a single Rum Punch, you might find that a Part is 15ml. We'll be honest, 30ml Parts would (a) be quite strong and (b) probably too big for most Glasses except for the really big 22oz Tiki Glasses. Or if you're making a Jug, or a Punch Bowl up, a "Part" could be a Cup/Mug, or even the smaller end of a Boston Cocktail Shaker, circa 18oz!
Basically, in this case, SIZE DOESN'T MATTER... as long as you're consistent for each part of the Cocktail
Typically your Sour ingredients. Traditionally Lemon or Lime, but you could use Grapefruit here.
As you might guess, your sweeter ingredients. Back in the days, plain Sugar, these days Gomme. However, take Monin, ODK, Real and William Fox with all their Syrups and Purees. Just at Drinkstuff alone, you could probably find 150 Sweet Syrups to play with. Anything from Brown Sugar to Mango, passion Fruit and even Guava or Prickly Pear.
Your Rum. 1 Rum, or in Tiki world, 3-4 Rum Blends. But you could even do what I call cross over ingredients such as Fruit Liqueurs. For Example a big brand Orange Liqueur; Cointreau or Grand Marnier not only combine sweet Orange Vibes, but bring you the Alcohol Kick of a 40% Liqueur! With Liqueurs, its the same as Syrups. Think of a flavour, we guarantee there's a Liqueur for it.
You Mixers. Back in the Day it would be Crushed Ice, Water or Soda Water simply because Pineapple Juice wasn't a thing. But these days, you can find any flavour or Juice or Nectar in you local Supermarket. Just at our local Tesco for example, anything from Guava, Passion Fruit, Lychee through to Cherry, Apple, Pineapple and Cranberry.
Basically, with the Rum Punch, the only limit is your own creativity. You can make anything.
But the reason you never see one on a Cocktail Menu, is simply because a Bar would rename it to something Fun or meaningful to the Bartender or Venue. Yes Ian Burrell's Reggae Rum Punch is famous, yes the Planters Punch is famous. But even then, the Planters Punch has sooo many variants because it refers to what the Planters made on their own native Islands.
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Add all the ingredients to a Shaker with Ice. Shake. Then serve up in your favourite glass.
Now if plain sugar isn't your thing, you can upgrade that very simply using a couple of simple Syrup swaps;
or you can amplify that even more, but swapping the Soda of a Juice;
If you want to add a little bit of WOW to the Cocktail to turn heads at your Party or in your Bar, then why not make a Blue Rum Punch?! But you can also add flavoured Rums too and swap your Bitters...
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Now it's time to get a little bit more fruity! Instead of plain(ish) syrups, why not use some Fruit Purees! The benefit of ODK Purees are that they are long life and shelf stable! Which means you don't have to use a whole bottle within 7 days. This makes them perfect for Home Bars, Pub Sheds and High Street Bars alike!
Now it's time to start adding Flavour combinations. There is no limit to what you can create, but here are 2 of our Favourite Rum Punch combinations;
So far we've kept things really simple. And that's all Rum Punch recipes are in reality. HOWEVER, you can take them in a totally different direction. And this is where "Tiki" starts to come into play. Where you start to play with Rum Blends, different Bitter Combinations. Different Fruits and Spices.
So for inspiration, here is Steve the Barman's All Star 12 Ingredient Rum Punch. Combining 2 Sour, 3 Sweet, 3 Strong, 2 Weak and even 2 Spice!
To make a huge Punch bowl of this that'll keep your party going all night, Just find a big 5 litre Bowl, x20 the ingredients, add Ice and Fruit, et voilà!
(note; a Part for this cocktail is now 20ml)
We highly recommend Flash Blending this, but of course you can shake it with Ice!