Sangaree (Punch)

This punch is the ultimate ancestor of French Sangris, American Brandy Sangaree and Spanish Sangria - in that order. It is almost a temperance drink - good for when a delicious, complex-tasting, adult drink is wanted that won't make anyone silly.

This punch is mentioned in a book of noteworthy events in London from the year 1736 as one that a punch-seller by the name of Gordon was offering in the Strand. It was based on Madeira wine instead of spirits and it seems mister Gordon suggested that the drink was good for the blood. He called it after the Portuguese word for blood sangre (pronounced "sawn-HREY"). As a good Englishman, mister Gordon pronounced the word more like 'SANE-gree', which soon became Sangaree.

Sangre Punch, or Sangaree Punch, was the ultimate ancestor of the nineteenth-century French drink called Sangris ("sawn-gree" - obvoiusly from having heard the English pronunciaiton), which retained the Madeira wine base. It is amusing to read a mid-eighteenth century Parisian food writer who had heard it said that Sangris was originally an English drink, but rejects that on the grounds that the name of the dirnk means something in French - sang gris, meaning 'gray blood'. Many Spaniards would surely be just a surprised to learn that their Sangria is descended from an English source by way of France.

The base of the drink may not be that familiar today, but in the colonial era, much of the wine in the US came from Madeira, a tiny island off the coast of Morocco. The spot was conveniently located for trade ships, and as their export business grew, Madeiran winemakers began to add brandy or other spirits to help their wine last through the long, hot voyage at sea.

1 oz lime juice, freshly squeezed (30 mL)
4 tsp. superfine white sugar (20 mL)
2 oz verdelho Madeira wine (I use Blandy's 5-year verdelho) (60 mL)
1½ oz of chilled spring water (45 mL)

4 ice cubes

Garnish:
1 full-wheel slice lime
sprinkle nutmeg, freshly grated

Cut a full-wheel slice of lime with a slit cut in it to fit on the rim of the punch tumbler and reserve it as garnish.

Add lime juice, sugar, wine and water into a metal mixing tumbler (cocktail shaker).

Add ice into a 10¾ oz punch tumbler.

To the other ingredients already in the metal mixing tumbler, add crushed ice ¾ fill the metal mixing tumbler with method ice or cracked ice (about ½ oz cubes).

Seal the mixing tumbler with a metal mixing cap ('cheater tin') and shake vigorously to mix and chill/dilute.

Finely-strain this into the punch tumbler already containing the ice cubes.

The fill should be perfect if the appropriate ice and service vessel are used, and if the shaking is vigorous.

Garnish with lime slice and nutmeg.

Makes 1 cocktail.