London's Cocktail Week packs a punch

I got myself a nice gig giving a presentation on punch during London's first Cocktail Week last month. I was asked to focus on how punch first came into being, followed by a discussion on how it evolved into cocktails and the like.

The second part of this task was relatively simple, but when I tried to research the subject I quickly realized that information surrounding the birth of punch was going to be hard to come by.

Thankfully, David Wondrich, author of "Imbibe," just released "Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl" (Perigee Trade, 2010, $23.95). Without going into too much detail, thus robbing you of the chance to read Wondrich's engaging account, I'll tell you only that punch seems to have reared its head during the spice wars of the 1600s when sailors from England, Spain, Portugal and Holland were traveling to India and the Spice Islands to trade in nutmeg, cardamom and the like.

Citrus, spirits and spices were all available to these seagoing adventurers, and along with a little water or tea, that's all that's needed to make a basic punch.

In Asia they used arrack, which at that time was a generic word for spirits, but when they went back to Europe, all the best punches were made with aged rum or French brandy.

Armed with lots of information from Wondrich, I made my way to London. My co-host was Joe McCanta, bar manager at London's SAF restaurant. Joe built and talked about three punches for the assembled mass, while I butted in to prattle on about the history of punch.

The event culminated with a competition in which teams of bartenders presented their newly created punches. The winning team, Alex Kratena and Francesco Orifici from bar Artesian at the Langham Hotel in London, presented a punch that, among other things, called for Cognac infused with scorpions and tarantulas.

Yes. Scorpions and tarantulas. A darned good drink it was, though.

Rather than impart that recipe, which I'm thinking you'll never get around to making, I'm going to bring you the formula for a very simple punch that I stole from Wondrich. It's not in his book. I stole it by listening to him describe it on a radio interview. It's as easy as pie to make, and the punch is delicious.

Stolen goods tend to taste sweeter, I think.

Gary Regan is the author of "The Joy of Mixology" and other books. E-mail him at wine@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page K - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle