617520 Tue May 05 14:16:49 -0700 2009 8 36 Spirits 0 4656904 For one thing I'm not sure how some of the punches that immediately come to mind (e.g. Zombie) would really scale up to a punch bowl sized quantity - particularly when dealing w/ the shaved ice. What would work well here? Looking for something both punch bowl capable and punch bowl worthy. Perhaps a scorpion bowl? The Kamehameha rum punch was mentioned in cocktail virgin (http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2009/05/kamehameha-rum-punch.html) - but given that it involves a float don't know really how well that'd work here. Wanted something tropical/tiki style for an upcoming festivity. Tue May 05 14:16:49 -0700 2009 111910 jgg13 1 4657204 The Navy Grog might work: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/fashion/23shake.html I think drinks with an addition of a sparkler (seltzer, in this case) work fine as punches. Just get a big block of ice to float so it doesn't get too diluted, and provide a lot of cocktail ice on the side to pack serving glasses with. http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/ Tue May 05 16:02:46 -0700 2009 4656904 10143 MC Slim JB 2 4659323 Yeah, that was another one I was thinking of. Good point about the seltzer, that always seems to help with the volume involved with a punch bowl. Wed May 06 10:09:58 -0700 2009 4657204 111910 jgg13 2 4662335 Hmmm, looking at it more closely - it's calling for demerara. I've got the 151 proof demerara (lemonhart) but not the 80, which is what I'm guessing they're calling for. Ignoring the potency issues and just looking at flavor profile, would it be a real disservice to use the 151 or should I really track down a bottle of the 80? (there are a lot of professional boozehounds in this crowd, so the extra oomph isn't that big of a deal) Thu May 07 08:16:12 -0700 2009 4657204 111910 jgg13 3 4665058 If you go the 151 route, do some pre party tasting and see how it goes with 1/2 ounce or 3/4 ounce of the Lemon Hart 151. Alternately, if you have any other good gold rum on your shelf (Zaya comes to mind first, and I love Jamaican rums too), it will do just fine in place of the Demerara. Something you may wish to try: If you can track down pimento liqueur (the only brand I know if in the US is St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram), toss 1/4 ounce in there with everything else. Fri May 08 01:59:18 -0700 2009 4662335 10996 JK Grence the Cosmic Jester 4 4665221 I do have the st eliz, that's a good suggestion. I found some people this morning talking about either just using less of the 151 or cutting it w/ something else, if the 80 isn't available. I'll give that a try tonight and see how it goes. Fri May 08 05:22:24 -0700 2009 4665058 111910 jgg13 1 4658071 Not quite tiki but somewhat tropical, but very similar to the Kamehameha punch is the pisco punch which I did for a party: http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2008/07/pisco-punch.html Zombies would scale up. My key is to freeze all the booze and refrigerate all the juices/syrups so that less ice melt over time occurs (less dilution). Sippin' Safari has lots of other options. Scorpion bowls are somewhat nondescript save for the bowl itself, so you still need to figure out what to fill it with. The float for the Kamehameha could be done individually but it would require a server being there with dark rum and a spoon to pour it over the top for layering. Tue May 05 21:57:34 -0700 2009 4656904 256764 yarm 2 4659333 Ah, hadn't considered the pisco punch. And I'm pretty sure I still have a full bottle of it. Good idea on the chilling of the liquids. As for the float, yeah, this needs to be as minimal effort as possible in terms of serving, if for no other reason than I don't want to be tethered to the thing :) Wed May 06 10:11:59 -0700 2009 4658071 111910 jgg13 1 4671635 So I ended up going with the following recipe, scaled up x 12: 1 oz cruzan estate light 1 oz appleton vx 1/2 oz lemon hart 151 1/2 oz water 1/4 oz pimento dram 3/4 oz grapefruit juice 3/4 oz lime juice 3/4 oz 1:1 honey syrup Reactions were mixed. Proving that you can't please everyone, some thought it was too sour while others claimed it was too sweet. Some people were really digging that "odd flavor" (pimento dram) while it turned others off. I really liked it though, that's for sure. Sun May 10 17:11:13 -0700 2009 4656904 111910 jgg13