grand junction punch

6 oz Lustau Brandy
6 oz Barbancourt 8 Year Rum
8 oz Earl Grey Tea Syrup (*)
1 oz Tamarind Syrup (**)
4 oz Lime Juice
4 oz Lemon Juice

Build in a punch bowl, add ice, and stir. Gently mix in 12 oz soda water and garnish with floated lemon twist flowers. Serves 4-6 easily and 2-3 if motivated. Recipe scales down 4 fold rather well.
(*) A moderately strong steep of Earl Grey tea combined with an equal part of sugar. We use Serendi-tea brand.
(**) A 1/2 pound of tamarind concentrate is brought up to 1 quart in hot simple syrup. Perhaps 1/4 oz tamarind concentrate to 3/4 oz simple syrup will work in a pinch.
In the late Spring or early Summer, I changed the large format offering on the menu from Blood of the Kapu Tiki to something more classic to the punch bowl format. One of the flavor combinations that I started with was the trio of brandy, lemon, and Earl Grey which reminded me of a Sidecar given the tea's bergamot aspect. I ended up splitting the spirit with rum and adding a hint of tamarind for an exotic note to complement the tea, and these two additions were similar to the direction we took in the Pattaya Punch. For a name, I went with the Grand Junction after the active, century-and-a-half oldone track rail road that starts near the B.U. Bridge connecting Kenmore Square to Cambridgeport, runs past our restaurant, and ends in East Boston. The majority of the locals and many of our diners are quite familiar with the trains' whistles, and this is definitely one way to help make it all the more bearable.