Go With the Flow

What is a party without a punch bowl? Cocktail historian DAVID WONDRICH reveals a brief history of the drink, as well as an 18th-century recipe, for a deeper appreciation of this age-old festive concoction.

- DAVID WONDRICH

Think of punch and a basin filled with a cloying and potent mix of cheap spirits, sodas and boxed juices comes to mind. In certain cocktail bars, however, you'll find the large-format cocktail to be much more refined, with better alcohol and a wealth of flavours.

At Republic, its punch bowls, developed with award-winning author and cocktail historian David Wondrich, offer something more: a glimpse of the past. "Konstantin Nemolochnyi, assistant director of food and beverage at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore and I wanted to serve punches that would reflect key points in the history of drinks where Singapore was pivotal," says Wondrich of the collaboration. "I finally came up with three: Captain Diamper's Punch echoed the first time the Europeans reached Southeast Asian waters in the 1600s and learnt to use local ingredients in their drinks; Paul Jones Punch pays homage to when American ice trade first made it into Asia in the early 1800s; while the Straits Gin Cup recalls the famous Gin Sling of Singapore, created in the late 1800s."

There is no one better to tell the story of punch than Wondrich, who devoted an entire book to it. First published in 2010, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl is a historically informed tribute to the subject. "It is the first mixed drink based on distilled spirits to gain worldwide popularity and the foundation for almost all of modern mixology, and yet there was no book on its history. An opening like that was too big to ignore," he adds.