This Wednesday: Get punched at D&LS

Roughly one year ago, bars started collecting vintage punch bowls and filling them with elixirs very much unlike the Sprite-and-sherbet tipple you had at your 8th birthday party. The 12 months that have transpired since then have been so fruitful, punch-wise, that I'm tempted to call this the Year of Punch. But that would be wrong. The real year of punch was 1850 (and the roughly 200 years previous), when punch was not an anomaly but a staple.

Punch may be becoming commonplace year-round again, but I still associate it mainly with this time of year. Something about conviviality, I guess. (Even an old Jew like me can get a little misty around Christmas.) So when my associate Julia Kramer and I were charged with the task of concepting our next Dining & Libation Society event, punch was one of the first things that came to mind. Making punch, it seems, is kind of like making soup: Anybody can do it, but only a real master can do it well. So we pulled cocktail-iers Peter Vestinos and John Kinder out of retirement to do a little redux on the classic holiday party. Using Death's Door Spirits as their base, the two came up with four punches, which they'll serve alongside chef Jared Van Camp's charcuterie, etc., on Wednesday night (buy your tickets at dlschicago.com). I'm pasting in the punch descriptions below and, personally, I can't wait to get my hands on the Punch of Tar and Roses. For a year that's been full of punch, it will be a fitting end.

Solstice in Chicago
Death’s Door Vodka, Blood Oranges, Emperor’s La Mancha Saffron, Wisconsin Cranberries, Sage, Ginger Beer
Served with a local beet-and-apple salad with sheep's milk cheese

Punch of Tar & Roses
Death’s Door Gin, Michigan Cherry Preserves, Wild Rose Petals, Absinthe, Meyer Lemons, Extreme First Flush Darjeeling Tea
Served with Jared Van Camp's finnochiona, lonza and pate de Campagne

A Fireside Chat Punch
Death’s Door Gin, Punt e Mes, Lapsang Tea, Lemon & Lime Juices, Honey, Rosemary
Served with tea-smoked salmon belly with green olive aioli

Tom & Jerry
Death’s Door White Whisky, Whipped Egg, Sugar, Holiday Spices, Blue Marble Dairy Milk
Served with pumpkin tarts