Sam Heughan: Katman Do!

Some say the punch has its roots in India, where colonial drinkers in the 17th century mixed the harsh local spirit arrak with spices and exotic juices that were close to hand. The name itself might come from the Hindi word panch, which means five, referring to the five elements that were thought essential to its success as a drink – alcohol, sour (lime or lemon), sweet (sugar), spice and non-alcoholic water, juice and/or tea.

Or it might come from the large wooden barrels called puncheons that are still used today to store wine and spirits. Whilst on a recent trip to Nepal, in Kathmandu I sampled some local whisky that would have worked well in this concoction. The Himalayas that surround the city and show their epic white-capped peaks at dawn would have looked less intimidating with a cup or two of this punch! What makes punches so convivial and brilliant for sharing is that they can be made ahead of time leaving you free to have fun, they’re also generally lower in alcohol than their hardcore cocktail cousins, so you can enjoy them in abundance without falling over.

Although the rise of cocktail culture from the mid-19^th century saw the popularity of the traditional punch wane, some, like the rum punch, never went out of fashion (see the Killer Bee on page 158). This is a variation replacing the rum with whisky, which lends a lovely savoury woodiness to the tropical fruit flavours and gives it a decidedly Scottish vibe. A beautiful punchbowl with matching cups or glasses is desirable, of course, but a large saucepan would do for mixing.

Extracted from The Cocktail Diaries, Sam Heughan (Quadrille, £20) Photography ©Matt Russell. Buy Now

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