Rum Punch
A citrus and sweet rum cocktail ∙ Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 8.6% ABV ∙
Rum Punch is a shaken white rum cocktail with lime, sugar syrup, bitters, and chilled water, strained over ice into a tall glass.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: White rum 45 mlLime juice 15 mlSugar syrup 30 mlAngostura aromatic bitters 2 dashesChilled water 60 ml
- Strain into the ice-filled glass
- Garnish with an orange wheel and a maraschino cherry on a skewer
- Note: Can be scaled up and served from a punch bowl or a large pitcher
Tips
- The recipe follows the old punch rhyme exactly: 15 ml sour, 30 ml sweet, 45 ml strong, 60 ml weak.
History
Rum punch has no single inventor; it is a genre of drink that took shape in the Caribbean in the 17th century as European colonial trade brought rum, sugar, and citrus into contact with an older Indian drinking tradition. The word "punch" is widely traced to the Hindi "panch," meaning five, after a drink built from five components: spirit, citrus, sugar, water, and spice. British and Dutch traders encountered in India in the early 1600s and carried it onward to Caribbean sugar and rum ports.
Sailors and planters adopted the formula because citrus helped ward off scurvy on long voyages, and rum, being locally produced and cheap, replaced the imported spirits used in earlier punches. A simple mnemonic rhyme balancing one part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong, and four parts weak became the traditional guide to mixing it; a version of that rhyme appeared in print in Fun magazine in 1878. It remains the loose template behind the countless regional rum punches served across the Caribbean today.
FAQ
What is in a Rum Punch?
45 ml white rum, 15 ml lime juice, 30 ml sugar syrup, 2 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters, and 60 ml chilled water. That is the old punch rhyme: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.
How do you make a basic Rum Punch?
Shake the rum, lime juice, sugar syrup, bitters, and chilled water with ice, then strain into an ice-filled Collins glass. Garnish with an orange wheel and a maraschino cherry on a skewer; for a crowd, scale it up in a punch bowl or pitcher.
What is a good juice for Rum Punch?
Lime. It is the only juice in this recipe, and its 15 ml is the sour part of the punch, set against the rum and sugar.
How strong is a Rum Punch?
Light: about 8.6% ABV. The 60 ml of chilled water, plus melt from the ice, stretches the 45 ml of rum into a long drink.
