The Spirit World

One of my friends is Swedish, and she often brings interesting things for me to try have made their way to the U.S. with her friends and family from Sweden. Her latest gift was a bottle of Carlshamn’s Swedish Flaggpunsch.

Finding Swedish Punsch
Some bloggers have written about Swedish Punsch because it is an essential ingredient in a certain classic cocktails. In fact, the pen name of a famous cocktail writer (Dr. Cocktail aka Ted Haigh) is also the name of a wonderful cocktail using Swedish Punsch (which happens to be one of his favorites).

This spirit is extraordinarily difficult to obtain in the US, even though it is quite common in Sweden. I’ve never seen it in a store, and have only read tales of purchasing it online. So imagine my delight when my friend brought the bottle over!

It Starts with Batavia Arrack
Swedish Punsch is typically made from a combination of Batavia Arrack, white rum or other neutral spirit, citrus juice, sugar, water and spices. Long ago, people mixed their own. At some point, Swedish liquor companies started selling pre-mixed versions, and several became popular. Vin & Sprit (owners of Absolut, at least for now) produce the Carlshamn’s brand.

Until recently, finding Batavia Arrack was also a problem in the US. Luckily for the cocktail explorers among us, one was recently introduced in the United States called Batavia-Arrack van Oosten. It’s made in Austria and imported by Haus Alpenz (importers of several other fine products).

Batavia Arrack is distilled from sugarcane and java red rice, and has a very distinctive flavor and smell. It definitely shares some properties with white rum and a somewhat similar nose (depending on the rum), albeit with more spice. However, it has a lingering finish on its own and a menthol-like quality that lingers on the palate.

Carlshamn’s Swedish Punsch vs. Homemade
The bottle of Batavia Arrack has a recipe for Swedish Punsch on the label, so I mixed it up and compared it to the bottle from Sweden. It was amazing how similar they were in terms of the nose – they smelled virtually identical. Most of the aroma was coming from the Batavia Arrack, so that makes sense.

The tastes were notably different. The Carlshamn’s was syrupy and sweet, with hints of spice and a lingering menthol flavor. The homemade version had that menthol flavor, but was crisper and lighter in body, with more citrus notes and a lot less sweetness. If I were trying to make it more similar, I would add more simple syrup and less lemon juice.

Punsch that Drink
One touted option for drinking Swedish Punsch is to drink it on its own, either very cold or hot. I tried that, and while it was interesting, it’s not something I’ll likely be seeking out as a favorite choice.

I’ll soon be trying some cocktails with it (both versions), and will report back on favorites. In the meantime, here is at least one of Dr. Cocktail’s favorite versions (see msg 6) of the Doctor Cocktail:

Dr. Cocktail
2/3 Fresh Lime Juice
1/3 Swedish Punsch

Shake ingredients over ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

Interestingly, a few Swedish travel sites mention pairing Swedish Punsch with pea soup, an online discussion group has been discussing a bunch of other recipes for Punsch, and one blogger has a recipe for a Punsch Parfait that looks pretty good. Perhaps I’ll have to try those too.

Please add a comment if you have a favorite recipe to recommend. Otherwise, stay tuned for an update!