Fish House Punch

The spread of the drink had been made possible by the 1862 publication of "How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion," written by the celebrated New York bartender Jerry Thomas. This first true bartender's manual included a recipe for "Philadelphia Fish House Punch" -- a third of a pint of lemon juice, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, 2½ pints of water, half a pint of Cognac, and a quarter pint each of rum and peach-flavored brandy. There would be reason to be dubious that Thomas had the recipe right -- after all, how would a bartender whose résumé included stints in New York, California and St. Louis come to know the secret recipe of a rarefied private club in Philadelphia? But Fish House Punch is one of the only recipes in "How to Mix Drinks" that is specifically credited to a source other than Thomas himself. It came from F.S. Cozzens, a New York wine merchant who moonlighted as an author of comic stories. A member of New York's Century Association, he ran in social circles that may well have provided him access to the Fish House's secrets.


Fish House Punch
2 parts dark Jamaica rum
1 part cognac
½ part peach-flavored brandy
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 to 1½ part (to taste) simple syrup
2 parts (more or less, to taste) water
Stir with ice and serve in a punch cup. If you make it in bulk, do so in a sizable punchbowl with a large block of ice. You may decorate the punch with thin slices of lemon.