Charleston, South Carolina, is a hot, hot place. It’s definitely “hot: because of all the great restaurants and bars that you can visit, but most of the year, it also feels a little bit like hell on Earth (the good kind of hell, if there can be one of those). It makes sense, then, that Charleston is the birthplace of Planter’s Punch, a rum-based cocktail with six ingredients and is 100-percent delicious.
Allegedly created at the Planters Hotel in the 1870s — the first written record of the drink is a rhyming recipe in the September 1878 issue of Fun, a London-based publication that ran from 1861 to 1901 — the Planter’s Punch is the perfect cure for all that ails you while in Charleston … the thing that ails you being, primarily, the heat, of course.
The original recipe called for “three glasses” of rum and “four glasses” of water, which were the units of measurement at the time. These were not the type of glasses as we know them, otherwise, we’re pretty sure everyone in Charleston would’ve died of alcohol poisoning.
To help show us how to properly prepare Planter’s Punch (trying saying that five times fast), we worked Anna Maceda, beverage director of Grand Army Tavern in Portland, Oregon. For this particular recipe, we used Privateer True American Amber Rum, winner of the Best Aged Rum category in The Manual Spirit Awards 2018.
For those that find themselves in Portland, Grand Army Tavern (located in the Woodlawn neighborhood) is hog heaven for pork and cocktail lovers, with selections ranging from house-made charcuterie to porchetta and spiced butt roast sliders (bonus points if you can say the name without giggling). Those dishes, as well as the wide array of vegetarian options, go perfectly with the drink program, which ranges from light and Sunday morning-ready to spirit-forward.
Privateer True American Amber Rum Planter’s Punch
Glass: Collins glass
Tools: Shaker
Recipe:
- 1.5 oz Privateer True American Amber Rum
- 2 oz pineapple juice
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1 oz simple syrup
- .25 oz grenadine
- 1-2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Pineapple slice
- Cherry
Method: Pour all ingredients except bitters into shaker filled with ice. Shake. Pour into a Collins glass filled with ice. Add Angostura bitters on top. Garnish with a cherry and pineapple slice.
