Punch Basics

Punch is the name given to any of a variety of mixed drinks that are served over ice and usually contain fruit juice(s) as well as wine or liquor. Punch is typically served in a large punch bowl, but it can also be made by the glass.

Punch originated in India as a drink called panch, which means “five” in Hindi. The drink was named after the fact that it contained five ingredients. Most historians agree that three of the five ingredients were sugar, lemon juice, and arrack (a distilled liquor made in Southeast Asia), but different accounts hold that the remaining two may have been water, tea, beer, or even pure alcohol. Regardless, British sailors of the Dutch East India company encountered the drink and spread it as “punch”—a word first recorded in English in 1632—throughout Europe and the British Empire.

Punch gained quick popularity throughout the Western world, which only increased when the British in Jamaica invented “modern punch” by using the newly invented spirit rum as the base liquor for the mixed drink. Punch has remained almost universally popular since then, and afficionados have developed a seemingly endless variety of punch recipes—punch can be cold or hot, can be made from virtually any sort of liquor, and can range from a gentle and tasty concoction to a stiff drink that packs an incredible wallop.

Though traditionally served by the bowl, punch can be served by the glass as well. This guide to punch provides recipes for both by-the-glass and by-the-bowl punches.