A perfect punch for your holiday party

Published 2:44 pm Friday, December 11, 2015

Nothing encapsulates the holiday season better than a big colorful bowl of alcohol. Just add a ladle and you have punch — it sounds more legit that way.

But seriously, isn’t this the time of year when you find yourself inviting over family members you didn’t know existed to eat your food and drink your wine? We all have that far-removed uncle who thinks wine only comes in glass jugs or sticks to “champagne” in the form of whatever domestic canned beer that happened to be on sale.

Do you really want to open that bottle you’ve been saving for seven years? The bottle that while you get caught up mingling disappears without its contents ever reaching your glass?

Instead let me offer my recipe for gin punch. You still get credit for putting out something delicious and it might become a new tradition. Wait. That might mean hosting this event every year. Oh well, at least there will be punch and maybe some extra gifts.

Anchor dropper gin punch

2bottles Navy-strength gin

4cans frozen pink lemonade concentrate

8bottles prosecco

8cups grapefruit juice

2cups St. Germain elderflower liqueur

4cans ginger ale

6limes, sliced

1large grapefruit, sliced

This recipe makes a 4-gallon batch (good for approximately 30 people), so of course it can be halved — or doubled if you own a barn and have a lot of friends. Just mix the ingredients together in a very large bowl, add ice and make sure you have a lot of glasses. If you can’t find Navy-strength gin, try to find gin over 90 proof. Of course, we carry plenty of bottles of our Chapter One Navy Strength Gin at the Temple Distilling in Lynnwood. The grapefruit and fresh lime peel we use in our gin is a big reason for the invention of this recipe.