St. Charles Punch
1 teaspoon sugar
1 lemon-juice only
1 large shot of port wine
1 pony cognac brandy
1/3 teaspoon Curacao

Dissolve the sugar with a little water in a mixing glass. Add the lemon juice, the port wine, the cognac, and last the Curacao. Fill the glass with fine ice and jiggle with the bar spoon. Pour into a long thin glass, garnish with fruit, and serve with a straw.

Years ago this was a famed punch very much in demand at the celebrated St. Charles Hotel bar. Don't omit the straw; this drink demands long and deliberate sipping for consummate enjoyment.

Orgeat Punch

1/2 shot of orgeat syrup
1 lemon-juice only
1/2 lime-juice only
1 large shot of rye whiskey
1 dash orange bitters
1 small shot of port wine

Mix all but the port in the order named in a tall 12-ounce glass. Fill with cracked ice to a finger-width of the top. Jiggle with a spoon until well frapped. Then float on top the pony of port wine ... do not stir.

Said Sam Guarino, once the chief bartender at the Hotel Roosevelt bar, who originated this drink delight:

"The Orgeat Punch has two distinct flavors which register separately when trickling down your throat. First you taste the Oporto, and then you get the second rich taste of the orgeat-flavored whiskey mixture."

Orgeat sirup, or sirop d'orgecut, is made from the milk of almonds and has long been a favorite flavoring and sweetening liqueur among the Creoles of New Orleans. It is not used as much today as in the past, but drink-mixers who like something different should cultivate its acquaintance again.

Arrack Punch

A large shot of date arrack
2 teaspoons bar sugar
2 dashes of lemon juice

Dissolve the sugar in a little water, add the lemon juice, then the arrack; fill the glass nearly full with shaved ice, and shake well. Strain into a glass and serve with a straw. Printed coasters may be appropriate to serve along with this festive punch.

Arrack is the fermented juice of the date palm, and is a name that was applied in Eastern countries to any spirituous liquor of native manufacture, especially ones distilled from the fermented sap of the coco-palm, or from rice and sugar fermented with coconut juice. Later the arrack imported from Bastavia and Japan was considered superior in concoct¬ing the punch, at which time the name arrack was shortened to "Rack."

Arrack punch was a favorite tipple in the New Orleans of the splendid idle 40's when flourished W. J. Logan's "Pelican" coffee-house "at Gravier and Union in the rear of Clapp's Church," as he always advertised his place. The Pelican's specialties were Arrack Punch and Pineapple Julep, both mixed in huge bowls and prepared fresh every day. As a punch it bears no resemblance to the mixtures we now call by that name, and the Pineapple Julep of Host Logan came nearer being a punch than the drink designated today as julep.

Pineapple Julep
1 quart sparkling Moselle wine
2 large shots of dry gin
2 large shots of maraschino syrup
2 large shots of raspberry syrup
2 oranges-juice only
Sugar to taste
Slices of pineapple

This punch, for it is not really a julep according to our modern acceptation of the term julep, should be prepared by placing a large piece of ice in a punch bowl and pouring on the mixture then ladling it over the ice long enough to melt some of the ice and chill the whole. It is recommended to serve the punch along with (http://www.thirstycoasters.com/servlet/-strse-Trivets/Categories)stone coasters so the glass doesn't drip all over the guest who is drinking it.

The pineapple should be the fresh fruit, if possible, and sliced over the bowl. Cherries from the maraschino bottle, strawberries, and other fruits in season can be added. This recipe makes enough for six servings.

In the days of old, the days of gold, and the days of '49, when embryonic miners flocked through New Orleans on their way to the newly discovered California gold fields, these same would-be miners found many places in the Crescent City to wet their whistles. One popular oasis was Logan's "Pelican Coffee¬house," told of in the foregoing page, where the Arrack Punch and Pineapple Julep were counted the best in town.