Anybody feeling wealthy today? Then how about some Millionaire Punch?
This recipe is from the fantastic Here’s How cocktail book from 1941. Besides having a wooden cover and bound with leather strips and hinges, it also has some fantastic illustrations.
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 1 dash lime juice
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 jigger bourbon
- 2 dashes grenadine
- Dash Creme de Menthe
- Shake well with cracked ice and strain into goblet. Add Creme de Menthe and dress with fruit.
Not exactly sure why this is called Millionaire Punch, but if I was to speculate I would probably guess it is the look of this thing. It uses two citrus fruits as garnish and it is served in a goblet. Faaan-cy!
“How is it?”
“Oh man, so sour. Millionaires must have eaten a lot of lemons back in the day.”
The Verdict: Sour
From The Tasting Notes –
Painfully sour, although the citrus/mint combo had a very pleasant aftertaste. Too much lemon, but the lemon we used may have been too big. Maybe lemons used to be smaller? The drink would definitely be better with much less lemon, probably about two tablespoons of lemon juice rather than a whole lemon.
Pretty drink, and I would love to take a look at that book!
Thanks for trying these funny old cocktails out for us, I look forward to vicariously joining in on Fridays 😀
Not quite the color of money.
Good for St Pat’s day!
That book looks awesome! Can you please print out the poem/toast at the end? I’m dying to read it in its entirety. Looks like one I might want t use 😉
Google “Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen, here’s to the widow of fifty” and find they are the beginning of the lyrics to an old Irish drinking song :-D.
It is a pretty drink, but it does seem to be heavy on the sour. I believe Eric Felten’s book mentions this—I’ll have to see what his proportions are if that’s the case.
Pretty sure that – while a drinking song – it’s a drinking song from “A School for Scandal”, one of my favourite plays. =)