The Drink of Summer 2012: A Conversation

Ti Punch
Ben Goldstein/Studio D

Ben Goldstein/Studio D
Ti Punch

Much is said about drinking in the summer, including by us here at Eat Like a Man. Last year: the Negroni. And this year — well, what is going on this year? And is there something new you should think about having? With little to no respect for those conversations between David Brooks and Gail Collins over at The New York Times, we put our resident drinks writers together for a conversation about drinks. In the summer. Or any time. Rum, and rhum, included.

LESLIE PARISEAU: So, we're going to talk about what the drink of the summer is. And we don't, I suppose, have to come to a consensus, but we can go over what people should be drinking.

DAVID WONDRICH: Well, you know, "should be" is always kind of tricky, because for me, it's drink what you like. That said, a helpful suggestion is always good.

LP: Then again, what we like, everyone should drink, don't you think?

DW: Well, I don't know if everyone should, but everybody I know does.

LP: What are you starting to drink right now?

DW: My summer drink this year is the Ti Punch. Because I'm sick of summer drinks. Every year, I always go for something fizzy and citrusy, and those things are never satisfying. I mean, they're cooling, which I appreciate, but they're never satisfying, so I end up drinking too much of them.

LP: I've had Ti Punch before, but for posterity, tell us about it.

DW: It's the simplest drink in the world if you can get the ingredients. What you need is Martinique cane syrup, which several different distilleries there market and sell to the U.S. And you can get it online — J.M, for instance, does a cane syrup. And then you need limes, and you need good Martinique rum, rhum agricole, which is easier and easier to find these days.

LP: Do you ever use J.M?

DW: I'm a big fan of J.M. Also Neisson or La Favorite, which is the funkiest distillery I've ever been to in my entire life, and so I'm kind of affectionate to that. There were open flames in the distillery. The thing is a time-bomb. It was insane. So, all you do is, first, pour in just a dot of the sugar-cane syrup, enough that it just coats the bottom of your glass, maybe a teaspoon — use an old-fashioned glass, a small one. Then, cut a slice up the side of a lime the size of a quarter — maybe a little bit bigger, a Susan B. Anthony dollar I would say — and you squeeze that into the glass. Then you pour in however much rum you feel like drinking — the white rum, it's always with the white rum, which is 100-proof.

LP: So how much rum do you feel like drinking?

DW: Anywhere from an ounce-and-a-half to three ounces, depending. Now, in Martinique, they don't like ice in it. They won't do it. I had one bartender refuse to make me one with ice. I told him, "I know it doesn't come with ice, but I'd really like ice with it this time."

LP: And is that because it comes from a time when ice wasn't exactly available?

DW: Exactly. Well, there are a lot of theories in tropical countries about ice, and how it's not good to get cooled so fast. You know, they still think like that in Italy. I mean, they wear sweaters in the summer, just in case there's air-conditioning.

LP: The French do that, too.

DW: It's a little gross. But that's just the way. Anyway, I'll crack a couple of ice cubes in it. And it is just such a cooling drink. But it's also like an old-fashioned — you can taste the alcohol, you know what you're drinking. It's like the summer old-fashioned.

LP: I was going to bring up the old-fashioned, because I love one any time, but especially the rum old-fashioned, because it's on the sweeter side.

DW: Yeah, but you know, people have been getting very baroque about their old-fashioneds these days, which I think goes against the grain of the drink.

LP: What do you consider "baroque"?

DW: They're using flavored syrups. They're layering rums. They're using, like, four different kinds of obscure bitters, and making sure to name-check them all over the place, so you know just how sophisticated they are.

LP: And there's no old-fashioned to that at all.

DW: The worst is when they use syrup instead of sugar. I mean, I suppose it's the same, but for me, it's all about the ritual of muddling the sugar with the bitters.

Philip Montgomery at Skylight at the McKittrick
Wondrich and his Scotch punch.

LP: If you were going to pick up one of those summer drinks you drink too many of, what would you go for?

DW: I like Gin Rickeys, but that's sort of a hard sell, because they're not sweet at all. That's a very fine drink.

LP: Should I be embarrassed that I drink Aperol spritzers?

DW: I like an Aperol spritzer, but there's not a lot of alcohol in it. Eventually it gets frustrating. It's like, I'm drinking, and I'm drinking, and damnit, I don't feel a thing. But it's a fine drink nonetheless. If you're sitting somewhere pleasant, that's very nice. But you gotta drink about sixteen of them to get an effect out of it. I also like an Americano — that's a great drink, very simple. Negroni on the rocks with seltzer, the Italian style.

LP: Yes, I like that very much. Always bubbles on top.

DW: Yeah, and it doesn't have the whole citrus thing.

LP: You know what's a surprisingly good summer drink that I think people wouldn't expect? It's a great winter drink, too, but a Penicillin.

DW: I've never had one in the summer. I'll have to try it.

LP: You know, maybe I haven't either. I just imagine that it would be. Maybe it's just because I want to drink them all the time.

DW: I also like a Scotch whisky punch, surprisingly enough. To make it, I'd peel the standard oleosaccharum things — peel three lemons, and then muddle the peel with 3/4 cup of sugar, and let it sit for three hours. Then put in 3/4 cup of lemon juice, stir it in until the sugar is dissolved, and that's my base. And that you can refrigerate for a couple of days, so you don't have to worry about it so much. Then when it's party time, I'd pour that into a bowl along with a bottle of scotch — I like measuring things out by the bottle — and maybe a liter or a quart of cold water, and stir it up and have at it. It's very simple.

LP: I think people get intimidated by punch, but it really is the easiest thing in the world to make.

DW: It really is. You don't even need the oleosaccharum, but it makes such a huge difference. You can also make lemonade like that, with the same process, and add the quart of water to that, and then to serve, just spike it as you wish.

LP: Where do you plan to be drinking these cocktails this summer?

DW: On my stoop. I'm not traveling, really, except to go to New Orleans later this summer. Over Memorial Day, I made a big bowl of punch.

LP: Are you doing your regular Fourth of July party this year?

DW: I am. There will be a big bowl of punch. It will probably be Scotch whisky punch, because I have a couple of bottles, so what the hell?

LP: That's fine. I hear we're supposed to do a graveside visit.

DW: Oh, yeah. A podcast about visiting William Schmidt's grave. He was the most famous bartender in America, and he has an unmarked grave on Long Island.

LP: I did not know that. How did you find it?

DW: I got his death certificate from the city. He died of senile dementia at the age of 55. It's a little frightening.

LP: What year?

DW: 1905.

LP: Well, I guess if you drink enough tea punches...

DW: He didn't drink, though, which is the weird thing.

LP: Oh, maybe that was the problem.

DW: Yeah, see? I'm sure it was syphilis.

LP: More tea punch, then.

DW: Exactly. Just keep 'em coming.

Please feel free to nominate YOUR drink of the summer in the comments.

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