The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails Definition of Regent’s Punch

Regent’s Punch , a rich elaboration on Punch Royal, combining brandy, Batavia arrack, various liqueurs, citrus, green tea, and champagne, served on ice, takes its name from being the preferred evening drink of George Augustus Frederick, prince regent of Great Britain. See arrack, Batavia; and punch. The prince (1762–1830) was a connoisseur in these matters, perhaps to a fault, and the punch, first recorded in 1817, rapidly found favor beyond the royal household: it was the fashionable drink of the 1820s, both in England and in North America, where its fame spread early, followed quickly by its adoption.

The Regency-era memoirist Captain Gronow, not the most inaccurate of observers, suggested that the punch was created by “Mr. Maddison,” the prince’s majordomo. Unfortunately, of the many surviving recipes, none appears to be his. There are three, however, that claim some connection to the prince’s circles. The earliest, from 1819, is purportedly from “a gentleman who … figures high in the upper circles of fashion,” and it has several features outside the mainstream of recipes, including the addition of soda water and other wines besides champagne. The other two agree much more closely, differing only in proportion and a few secondary ingredients. The first was printed in 1845 and claims to be from “a person who made the punch daily for the prince’s table, at Carlton palace, for six months.” The last-printed one is from 1869 and comes with a name: it is “by P. Watier [original.” The “William Terrington” who printed it is probably a pseudonym, but his recipe attributions have proven accurate when they can be checked, and indeed Philippe Wattier was assistant confectioner in the prince’s household from 1813 to 1820, and punch making was a recognized part of the confectioner’s art. What’s more, he lived until 1866, so he could well have given Terrington his old recipe.

It is also worth noting that Wattier was from Metz, since Regent’s Punch displays many of the prismatic characteristics of French and German punch making of the late eighteenth century, where the sweet, sour, strong, and weak elements of punch are each divided between several ingredients. Indeed, Regent’s Punch acted as a vector for such ideas, and for ingredients such as curaçao, maraschino, and champagne to enter British and American mixology. See curaçao and maraschino. In fact, it enjoyed a longer career in America than it did in Britain, where it quickly faded in the face of Queen Victoria’s disapproval of the heavy-drinking ways of her predecessors and their cronies, although it was still occasionally sold as a pre-bottled specialty through the 1880s. In New York, on the other hand, Regent’s Punch was particularly appreciated. In the 1820s, William Niblo’s rendition of the drink helped him to become the city’s leading caterer. Later in the century, the New York State Legislature in Albany, the state capitol, adopted the drink, serving it liberally at all social occasions through the rest of the nineteenth century and until Prohibition. Recent years have seen the formula dusted off again as part of the renewed interest in punch.

Recipe: Infuse the peels of 1 Valencia orange, 1 Seville orange, and 1 lemon in 375 ml cognac for 1 hour. Juice the citrus and add strained juices, 75 ml Batavia arrack, 75 ml old Jamaican rum, 60 ml maraschino or orange curaçao, 75 ml pineapple syrup, and 500 ml cold green tea (made with 10 ml tea leaves). Refrigerate and before serving add 1 bottle chilled champagne. Adjust sweetness to taste with simple syrup.

Regent’s Punch

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