Rum punch
Rum, lime, sugar and fruit juice, built to an old Caribbean rhyme. Tall, fruity and simple.
- Time
- 5 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Glass
- Highball
- Strength
- 1.8 UK units
How to make a rum punch
- Combine in a shaker. Add the rum, lime juice, syrup, pineapple juice and orange juice to a shaker and fill it with ice.
- Shake. Shake for 10 to 12 seconds, until the tin is cold and frosted.
- Strain over fresh ice. Strain into a tall glass filled with fresh ice.
- Finish. Add two dashes of bitters on top and grate a little nutmeg over. The bitters will spread into the surface in red streaks.
- Glass
- HighballNo highball? Any tall tumbler.
- Ice
- Ice cubes
- Garnish
- Orange slice and a pinch of grated nutmegOr: A lime wedge.
What you need to make a rum punch
Kit
JiggerA double-ended measure, usually 25 ml and 50 ml.
Cocktail shakerA two-piece Boston tin is the easiest to use and clean.
StrainerA Hawthorne strainer fits over the tin or glass.
Citrus squeezerFresh juice makes the biggest difference of anything.
Bottles we'd use
- Aged rumAppleton Estate Signature or Plantation 5 Year both work well.Find it on Amazon
- Angostura bittersThe bitters are a standard ingredient here.Find it on Amazon
Links to Amazon are affiliate links: if you buy through them, Bar Bandol may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The rum punch story
Rum punch follows a traditional Caribbean rhyme: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak. It is easy to remember, and its exact origin is unknown. The word punch itself is often traced to the Hindi panch, for five ingredients, but that is not certain either.
Here the sour is lime, the sweet is syrup, the strong is rum and the weak is fruit juice. It is easy to scale up for a crowd, and you can change the fruit juice to suit what you have. Add the bitters and nutmeg: they pull it together.
Rum punch: your questions answered
What is in a rum punch?
A rum punch is made with 45 ml aged rum, 15 ml fresh lime juice, 30 ml sugar syrup, 30 ml pineapple juice, 30 ml orange juice and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters. Garnish: orange slice and a pinch of grated nutmeg.
Is a rum punch shaken or stirred?
A rum punch is shaken, not stirred. Shaking hard with ice chills it quickly and helps mix the juice in properly, which stirring cannot do. Shake until the outside of the shaker feels very cold.
How strong is a rum punch?
Made to this recipe, a rum punch contains about 1.8 UK units of alcohol per drink. That is worked out from typical bottle strengths, so it changes with the bottles you use. UK guidelines advise not regularly drinking more than 14 units a week.
What glass do you serve a rum punch in?
Serve a rum punch in a highball over ice. No highball? Any tall tumbler.
