Palaver Punch

The Palaver Punch always reminds me of old friends. Maybe that says something about my friends: This recipe is a boozy gin and juice situation, both sweet and tart and spiked with a bit of fortified wine and allspice for winter vibes. You’ll want a floral but still juniper-y gin to pair with the fresh grapefruit and spice here; I like to use New York Distilling Company’s Dorothy Parker when I’ve got it around. But this is a flexible holiday punch that works with many different gins; the important thing is palavering with folks you care for.

The word palaver describes something needlessly overcomplicated, but one could argue that punch’s complexity isn’t needless. Attention to the fiddly bits has always been a component of the cocktail’s direct ancestor, and some would argue that it’s a virtue and not a bug.

In Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, the characters call an organized meeting a palaver, and it always reminded me of staff in a bar gathering around to share a quick drink midshift. As my old coworkers at the Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company and I all read the Dark Tower books together the first year we were open in Philadelphia, naming this drink for the term felt like a fitting tribute to both them and the books.

This punch is sweetened with a rich demerara sugar syrup, which means a syrup made from two parts demerara sugar to one part water (as opposed to a simple syrup which is equal parts). Demerara is a light brown sugar from Guyana, similar to turbinado, that is very popular in bartending circles for the subtle toffee flavor it offers. To make your syrup, warm two parts sugar and one part water in a pot over low heat while stirring, just until a solution is formed and no grit is visible. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes—don’t let it boil and turn into candy! Alternately, you can skip the pot and blend the mixture in a blender until the sugar is dissolved. Either way you should mix until a solution is formed—if you stick a spoon in and taste bits of sugar, you’re not done yet. The rich syrup will keep for up to a month in the fridge and can be used to sweeten a wide range of alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.