East Indian Punch

East Indian Punch is likely to have been a brand or other descriptive designation for a specific Swedish Punsch-style liqueur. East Indian Punch first appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book,lingers in a few sources that copy from it, and then reappears, briefly, in the Marco’s How and When, from Chicago, in 1937. Nothing further is known as of this writing (2015). Swedish Punch is generic for a category of smoky Scandinavian liqueur with a base of Batavia Arak. Batavia Arak is a distillate of fermented sugar cane juice and fermented Javanese rice—a sharp, smoky, rummy spirit. Swedish Punsch (or Punch) sweetens this with cane sugar to produce an unforgettable liqueur. Notable brands are Cederlund’s, Carlshamn’s and Gronstedt. Like a dark smoky rum and when added to other lesser rums tends to enhance their value in an estimable way.