With nods to mojitos, highballs, sours and even piña coladas, this refreshing whisky cocktail hits all the marks ready for a hot summer by the pool! Here’s how to make a Poolside Punch.
With so many influences from other classic cocktails, there were hundreds of names we considered for this drink.
But we’ve called this drink a punch because of the five ingredients (six if you include the garnish) and their relationship with the flavours a classic punch needs.
The word ‘punch’ comes from the Hindi word for ‘five’ (probably why the same word is used for a good ol’ five-knuckle sandwich too), but in drinks terms, a punch consists of five ingredients that deliver five important elements that create balance in the cocktail:
Those five flavour elements are: sweetness, sourness, spirit, spice and water.
And many of the parts of this cocktail work double time across different flavour profiles.
So this cocktail recipe really works well as a punch. And although this is enough for just one drink, it can also be scaled up for a party. Just leave out the soda water in the batch for people to add themselves at the end.
How To Make A Poolside Punch
- 60ml Aussie craft whisky - Starward’s Two Fold is perfect for this
- 60ml coconut water
- 15ml pineapple juice (fine strain to make things easier later)
- 10ml lime juice (fine strain this too)
- Top up with soda water
- Garnish with sprig of mint
1. Pour all ingredients apart from the soda water into a shaker with lots of ice and shake well to chill.
2. Strain into a tall glass with plenty of ice, top up with soda water and garnish with mint.
Two Fold Double Grain Whisky from Starward in Victoria works so well for a few reasons: it's inexpensive, so it's perfect for something like a punch, it's smooth and light, so it won't overpower the other flavours like a smoky or bold whisky might.
And it also has complimenting flavours like spiced vanilla, tropical fruits and cereal characters along with red apples and berries.
To make this into a batch big enough for a party, simply multiply the ingredients equally and mix in a punch bowl or other large container with ice and have the soda water and mint ready nearby.
As we mentioned, the ingredients here work across the five elements you need for a traditional punch.
For sourness, lime and to some extent the pineapple juice. Sweetness from coconut water and pineapple juice, spirit is obviously the whisky, water from the coconut and soda waters, which help with dilution.
Finally spice comes from the whisky but also the pineapple and mint. But if you want to amp up the spice, swapping out the whisky for a spiced gold rum like the superb Dead Man’s Gold from Stone Pine Distillery in Bathurst will work amazingly well.
This is a light, tropical cocktail, though it’s not overly sweet or fruity. You can still easily taste the whisky through the other ingredients, so if you want something sweeter, you can add more pineapple juice or some simple syrup made with 1:1 water and sugar.
Swapping out the whisky for Dead Man’s Gold spiced rum will also add more sweetness.