A bunch of punch screams “party”, but a glass bowl – while very pretty – is not the best choice, thermodynamically speaking, especially if you’re serving out of doors. Couple that with ice, which is famously known for melting, and your punch can get warm and watery real fast.
To combat this terrible fate, Portland’s Jeffrey Morgenthaler takes the punch out of the bowl and isolates the ice. Morgenthaler – who not only runs two of my favourite bars, Clyde Common and Pépé le Moko, but has a new, very accessible cocktail book out called Drinking Distilled: A User’s Manual – forgoes the traditional serving situation in a favour of a vintage Thermos brand cooler, which keeps the beverage cold and eliminates the need for a ladle (which will inevitably be dropped on the ground).
Then, instead of going through the hassle of making a big ice ring, he enlists the help of resealable bags. “I fill it with the punch (should only come up about halfway), [and] I pack it full of Ziploc freezer bags I’ve filled with ice,” he explained over email,
“That will keep it super cold but the melting ice won’t dilute the drink!” As someone who loves cold drinks but hates diluted ones, this seems ideal. (Oh, and if you need a very easy punch idea, Jeff likes a large format Negroni Sbagilato, which is just 750 milliliters of Campari, sweet vermouth, and Prosecco each.)
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