Punch Royal, the 1710 Lime and Brandy Punch
Reader ratingsBrandy, spring water, a pint of lime juice and a pound of double-refined sugar: William Salmon’s strong lime punch of 1710, from the years of Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts.
- Recipe makes
- About 330 ml, 3 small glasses
- Prep
- Total
Mixing takes 10 minutes; Salmon gives no chilling, and an hour in the fridge is our choice.
A small bowl of pale amber lime punch with a ladle and two small glasses, beside halved limes and a loaf of sugar.
The story behind the recipe
Punch Royal is a strong punch built on lime juice: brandy and spring water in equal measure, a pint of lime juice and a pound of the finest sugar. William Salmon printed it in 1710, in the fourth edition of his Family Dictionary, a London household book, as “Punch Orthodox, or Royal,” and he thought it beat every other punch going: “a Noble Cordial, and exceeds all other Punch whatsoever.”
Four times the lime
His reason was the lime juice. A punch with “about 4 times as much” lime juice as ordinary small punch, he wrote, chained down “the Volatile Spirits of the Brandy,” so that it “affects not the Head so much as the smaller kinds of Punch do.” That is not true: lime juice does nothing to the alcohol. What it does is make a very strong drink taste smooth and sharp, which is how he could believe it.
The entry just before it is Punch for Chamber-maids: two quarts of water, half a pint of lime juice, a lemon, an orange and a quart of brandy. That was the small punch he meant, with about half the brandy and a quarter of the lime to the same water.
Read more about this recipe
The pirates’ decade
Salmon’s book came out in the years when Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts went to sea, and its punch has what their punch had. William Dampier saw ships at the Caribbean salt ponds stocked with “Rum, Sugar and Lime-juice to make Punch,” and the buccaneers before him drank brandy above everything. What they drank, and how one captain tried to stop it at eight o’clock, is in What Did Pirates Drink?
Making it today
Salmon’s “D. L. S.” is double-refined loaf sugar, the whitest sugar of the day; superfine sugar dissolves the same way. This is one-eighth of his bowl, with a quart of brandy rather than three pints. Even so it is about 14% alcohol, as strong as a glass of wine, so pour small glasses. Expect a pale, cloudy amber drink, very sharp at first and then sweet, with the brandy warm underneath. Made with rum instead of brandy, as at Dampier’s salt ponds, it comes close to the Planter’s Punch of 1878, which uses lemon in place of lime and more water.
Punch Orthodox, or Royal: Take choice Brandy a quart or three pints, pure Spring-Water a quart; choice Lime-Juice a pint, D. L. S, a pound, mix and dissolve. This Composition is a Noble Cordial, and exceeds all other Punch whatsoever; and notwithstanding its Strength, affects not the Head so much as the smaller kinds of Punch do: for the Lime-Juice in this, being about 4 times as much as in the same quantity of small Punch, it more powerfully affects the Volatile Spirits of the Brandy, chaining them as it were down (so as it does by being mixed with Spirit of Sal Armoniack) for which reason, it is more Grateful and Comfortable to the Stomach, nor can so easily ascend into the Head, and cause Intoxications, as the small Punch does.
Recipe makes: About 330 ml, 3 small glasses
Ingredients
For About 330 ml, 3 small glasses. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for About 330 ml, 3 small glasses.
- Fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)60 ml
- Superfine sugar55 g
- Cold still spring water120 ml
- Brandy120 ml
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 60 ml fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
- 55 g superfine sugar
- 120 ml cold still spring water
- 120 ml brandy
Equipment
Citrus juicer
Fine strainer
Small bowl or jug
Instructions
Squeeze the limes and strain the juice into the bowl or jug.
Add the superfine sugar and stir until it has completely dissolved, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the spring water, then the brandy.
Cover and chill in the fridge for about an hour. Stir again and serve in small glasses.
Nutrition
170calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- About 330 ml, 3 small glasses
- Servings
- 3
Roughly estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 40% brandy, lime juice and granulated sugar, for one 110 ml glass.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
This is one-eighth of Salmon’s bowl with a quart of brandy. He allows up to three pints of brandy to the same water, lime and sugar, which makes it stronger still.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
Changes from the source: one-eighth of the batch with the smaller quantity of brandy, a quart, that Salmon allows; superfine sugar for double-refined loaf sugar; fresh lime juice, where his “choice Lime-Juice” may well have been bottled; and the chilling is ours. His quart is taken as about 950 ml and his pound as 454 g.
For the salt-pond version, use dark or golden rum in place of the brandy, in the same amount.
Strength is calculated, not measured: 120 ml of 40% brandy in about 330 ml of punch is roughly 14% alcohol by volume, before any ice.
Scottish punch-makers mixed the sugar, lemons and water first, and that bowl, before the spirit, is Glasgow Sherbet.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
William Salmon, The Family Dictionary: or, Houshold Companion, 4th ed. (London, 1710), “Punch Orthodox, or Royal,” no. 216 under P
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Punches & Cups
- Region
- British
- Era
- 18th century
- Base
- Brandy
- Difficulty
- Easy