July 18, 2014 – Jeff Bell is the head bartender at PDT in New York City’s East Village, and created this punch recipe for a Johnnie Walker press event focusing on whisky cocktails. It can be made in two ways: as a punch with 25 servings, or as a single shandy-like cocktail with some preparation ahead of time.
As a punch (25 servings):
1 750ml bottle of Johnnie Walker Double Black
2 whole lemons (peeled)
1 Ruby Red Grapefruit (peeled)
3 ounces of fresh grapefruit juice
3 ounces of fresh lemon juice
16 ounces of water
16 ounces of Pilsner Beer
Combine ingredients into a punch bowl and serve in a pint glass.
Here’s where it can get tricky. If you have enough preparation time, you can make Jeff’s Lemon Grapefruit Oleo-Saccharum ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator.
12 ounces of granulated sugar
3 whole lemons
3 whole grapefruit
12 ounces of hot water
Zest the entire peels of the lemons and grapefruit with a microplane, then mix thoroughly with the sugar and let sit for one hour in a non-reactive bowl. Add 12 ounces of boiling hot water, then stir to dissolve any remaining sugar. Fine-strain to remove citrus zest. Allow to cool before mixing into punch.
To make the punch this way, substitute it for the whole lemons, grapefruit, sugar, and water. If you want to make just one or two drinks, pour two ounces of Johnnie Walker Double Black and two ounces of Pilsner beer into a pint glass, then fill with the Lemon Grapefruit Oleo-Saccharum.
