REGIMENTAL PUNCHES HAVE BEEN CONCOCTED IN THE South for ceremonial events ever since The War
Between the States, and none is more famous (or infamous) than Savannah’s superpotent Chatham Artillery Punch, which locals make a week in advance of any big social shindig. According to the city’s resident epicure and a good friend, Damon Lee Fowler, the original punch base was devised just before the Civil War to honor a military group called the Republican Blues and was probably mixed in horse watering buckets and left to steep in large tubs several
days before ice and prodigious quantities of champagne were added. Today, serving methods are a bit more civilized, and all I can say is that the one time I made this punch for a small pork barbecue event held on my outdoor deck, there wasn’t a drop left in the punch bowl—or a sober soul in sight.
Makes about 1 gallon
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ounces green tea leaves
- 6 cups water
- 1 quart dry white wine
- 1 1/2 cups bourbon
- 1 1/2 cups dark rum
- 1 1/2 cups gin
- 1 1/2 cups brandy
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 quart champagne
INSTRUCTIONS
- Eight days before you plan to serve the punch, combine the tea leaves and water in a stainless-steel or enameled pot.
- Cover the pot with plastic wrap and let the tea steep overnight.
- Strain the tea through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a large bowl.
- Add all the remaining ingredients except the champagne to the bowl.
- Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for at least 1 week.
- When ready to serve, pour the punch over a block of ice in a large punch bowl.
- Add the champagne to the punch bowl.
- Stir the punch briefly to mix the ingredients.
- Serve the punch in punch cups.
