Cold Punch — The Cocktail Ontologist

Family

Variants (3)

How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon-Vivant's Companion by Jerry Thomas (1876, p.35) — Jerry Thomas 1876

8 whole	Lemon juice (fresh) — lemon juice	acid
32 oz	arrack — arrack	base
32 oz	water — water	dilution
32 oz	port wine — port wine	other
16 oz	sugar — loaf sugar	sweetener

Combine the arrack, port wine, water, sugar, and lemon juice.
Mix well and serve cold.

Nose: Lemon and fortified wine meet arrack's high aromatic edge.
Palate: It is deeper and more vinous than the simpler Arrack Punch, with port broadening the spirit's more exotic contours.
Finish: The finish is citrusy, wine-rich, and persistent.
Summary: A serious arrack-and-port punch that preserves the old alliance between exotic spirit and rich wine.

Cold Punch is a useful reminder that 'cold' in nineteenth-century nomenclature does not imply lightness or triviality. This is a large, full-bodied bowl punch whose temperature designation mainly distinguishes it from hot service.

The drink should be interpreted as a proper bowl punch, not as a minimal chill-down of a hot formula. Balance depends on keeping the port and arrack in conversation.

Compared with basic Arrack Punch, this is fuller, darker, and more vinous. It helps show arrack moving comfortably beyond a single canonical punch shape.

American and Other Drinks by Leo Engel (1878, p.26)

8 lemons	lemon juice	acid
2 pint	arrack	base
2 pint	water	dilution
2 pint	port wine	other
1 pound	sugar — loaf sugar	sweetener

Build and serve cold.

Ice: Cold service

The American Bar-Tender by R. C. Miller (1895, p.27) — R. C. Miller 1895

8 whole	Lemon juice (fresh) — juice of lemons	acid
2 pint	arrack — arrack	base
2 pint	water — water	dilution
2 pint	port wine — port wine	other
1 lb	sugar — loaf-sugar	sweetener

Combine the arrack, port wine, water, sugar, and lemon juice.
Mix as a cold bowl punch.

Nose: Arrack and port create a dark, perfumed punch aroma sharpened by lemon.
Palate: The port gives the bowl richness while arrack keeps it distinct from more familiar rum-and-brandy forms. It feels both old-world and slightly exotic in a way later books rarely preserve.
Finish: The finish is vinous, citric, and quietly spirit-driven.
Summary: A cold arrack-and-port bowl punch preserving a less common nineteenth-century flavour logic.

Cold Punch is useful because it keeps arrack visible in a large-format social context, not just as a curiosity note. That helps the ontology keep global spirit lineages inside the broader punch tree.

This is a direct bowl mixture, not an elaborate clarified preparation. Its value is in the spirit combination and cold service.

Related recipes

Arrack Punch variation

See also: Arrack Punch, Canadian Punch, Glasgow Punch

The OCR truncates the first line, but the core formula is legible: arrack, port wine, and water of two pints each, with one pound of loaf sugar and the juice of eight lemons.