Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER gets a mixed response when extolling the (nostalgic) virtues of punch…

WHY not celebrate Christmas with a punch? I’m not advocating a boxing match with that traditionally difficult uncle on your mother’s side or even a Punch and Judy puppet show.

No, I’m talking about a retro mixed drink concoction that was ubiquitous in the ’60s and ’70s. 

One website explains the origins: “This punch is first served in early 17th-century England, and it is believed to have originated from Hindi and Urdu pā̃c, meaning “five” – in reference to the supposed original number of ingredients, which probably consisted of an alcohol (such as arrack), a sour (such as lemon or lime), a sugar or other sweetener, spices (or tea), and water.” 

Punch resonates for me because at the time of my 21st birthday I wanted a cheap, agreeable drink that would please a crowd of people who mostly liked sweet drinks. To give you more of the flavour of the crowd: we danced most of the night to “Hot August Night” by Neil Diamond. 

I adapted the recipe below from an American ’60s book that I found at the library (no internet then). The sheet of paper on which the recipe is scribbled is one of a number of useful recipes jammed in the back of my “New Zealand Radio and Television Cookbook” published in 1973 and edited by Alison Holst. She is now in her eighties, a famous NZ TV chef whose cookbooks have collectively sold more than four and a half million copies.

In the ’70s, Asti Spumante, the alcoholic content of my youthful punch, was for me at the time a luxury. Now Liquorland sells it for $10 a bottle. The Raro brand orange juice wasn’t very sweet, so it adds a sour element to the drink, the sourness of which is offset by this sweet sparkling wine and the sugar syrup. 

 Hawaiian punch recipe

1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 can of Raro orange juice
3 large bottles of ginger ale

1 bottle (750 ml) Riccadonna Asti spumante

Directions: Heat sugar and water until sugar dissolves; cool. Combine sugar syrup, fruit juices and ginger ale in a punch bowl; add ice cubes and well chilled sparkling wine. 

I asked my son why punch had gone out of fashion. 

“Dunno,” he said. “It just doesn’t feature in the way we think.” 

“Who?” I said. 

“You know, millennials…”

I asked a friend who, while younger than me, was familiar with punch. She said: “Ew, no, in the ’80s we used to buy garbage bins and line them with black plastic and then people would arrive at the party with really cheap grog – I brought Ben Ean Moselle – and we’d mix it up all together in these bins and it would just be a slurry of what we’d use to get drunk.” Oh dear, I thought, no wonder punch died. 

In the hope of revivification, I reverted to my son: “Mate, cocktails are popular now right?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Well, you could give people at Christmas a cocktail glass and put vodka in the bottom of the glass, pour in the punch mix and convince them this drink is a sophisticated screwdriver.”

A derisory look was the response.

Finally, clutching at straws, I said: “I know, given that my punch recipe is a derivative of the Hawaii punch, we could add vodka or gin and mix it up in a cocktail glass under the name ‘Scomo’s Escape’ and see if they spit it out after one taste.”

Happy punching.