regent's punch

2 oz Bourbon (Evan Williams Bonded)
2 oz Brewed Green Tea, Cooled (Choice Organics Japanese Green)
1/2 oz Lemon Cordial (*)

Build in an old fashioned glass, add a large ice cube, and garnish with a lemon slice (omit garnish).
(*) Lemon cordial is a scaling of the following: the peel of 1 lemon in 1 oz sugar for 30+ minutes. Dissolve sugar in 1 oz lemon juice and strain.

One of the recipes that I had flagged in Nicola Nice's The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home was the Regent's Punch as adapted from Eliza Leslie's 1837 Domestic Cookery in Its Various Branches. That source recipe called for "any liquor suitable for punch" and Nicola opted for Bourbon. This recipe was a much more stripped down version of perhaps more authentic versions. David Wondrich in Punch provided a history tracing the original elaborate recipe back to perhaps a Prince of Wales, namely George Augustus Frederick. Getting at an bona fide recipe is challenging for many were recorded over the 19th century. William Terrington in the 1869 Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks listed arrack, brandy, Champagne, Maraschino, pineapple syrup, lemon and orange peels, sugar, and green tea, while Eliza Acton in the 1845 Modern Cookery for Private Families dropped the Maraschino and included Jamaican rum. Regardless, this simple version felt akin to the Zombie Essence that reduced the ten part drink from 1934 to five all while keeping the feel alive (or at least undead).Regardless, I am a sucker for green tea-containing punches such as Cold Ruby and G.M. Gurton's Punches, so I was game to give this one a go. In this cup, this punch proffered Bourbon and lemon oil aromas. Next, a lemony sip succeeded into Bourbon, tea, and lemon flavors on the swallow. Overall, rather pleasant, but I can see how gussying it up with additional flavors from the more extravagant recipes would prosper.