Ponche de Mezcal Para El Año Nuevo

A traditional, festive warm punch spiked with mezcal. Perfect for cold nights, it stews together traditional fruits, spices, and aromatics, making it an incredibly comforting hot cocktail.

. Ingredients:

  • 1 bottle (25 oz.) Del Maguey Vida mezcal

  • 6 oz. rum (Cooper suggests Dos Maderas PX 5+5 Rum)

  • 10 oz.  sherry (Cooper suggests Dry Sack Medium)

  • 10 oz. hibiscus tea

  • 12 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice

  • 16 oz. freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice

  • 16 oz. fresh pineapple juice

  • 10 oz. fresh unsweetened pomegranate juice

  • 12 dashes Angostura bitters

  • Whole nutmeg, for garnish

  • 16 oz. cava, to top

  • oleo saccharum

Instructions:

  • To make the punch, add the mezcal, rum, sherry, hibiscus tea, and lemon, grapefruit, pineapple, and pomegranate juices to the oleo-saccharum base and stir to combine. Add the bitters and grate fresh nutmeg over the punch bowl. Add an ice block or several large ice cubes and garnish with slices of grapefruit. Ladle into small punch cups (teacups are perfect) over one or two ice cubes, top with cava, and grate more nutmeg over the top of each cup.

    If you plan to pre-batch the punch, add the mezcal, rum, sherry, hibiscus tea, and lemon, grapefruit, pineapple, and pomegranate juices to the oleo-saccharum base and stir to combine. Store this batch in the fridge. When ready to serve, bring punch out of the fridge and add a large ice block, bitters and grapefruit slices. Ladle into small punch cups over one or two ice cubes, top with cava, and grate more nutmeg over the top of each cup.

  • Oleo-saccharum: Peel 8 lemons and 4 pink grapefruit, working in a circular pattern around the fruit to make long, twisting peels. Reserve the fruit for the punch. Combine the peels with the 2 cups Demerara sugar at the bottom of a punch bowl and muddle the peels into the sugar. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave overnight. The next day, stir the mixture, which should be a paste of sugar and peels. Squeeze the juice from the reserved lemons and grapefruit into the oleo-saccharum and stir to create the base for the punch.

Attribution:
Recipe: Reprinted with permission from Finding Mezcal: A Journey into the Liquid Soul of Mexico with 40 Cocktails by Ron Cooper with Chantal Martineau, copyright © 2018. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Photo: Kelly Puleio | December 21, 2018
Origin: Imbibe

Mezcal CocktailClarence Mailwas