Bourbon Punch With Pink Grapefruit and Mint
Try this amazing Bourbon Punch With Pink Grapefruit and Mint with fresh seasonal grapefruit and a surprise from Texas…bourbon! Delicious!
Before I share about this fabulous Bourbon Punch With Pink Grapefruit and Mint, I hope you didn’t miss my Inaugural Progressive Eats event; a new series I’m spearheading with a group of food blogging friends.
We’re bringing back Progressive Dinners but in a virtual way so each month between the dozen of us we’ll have a host who chooses a theme and everyone will bring something to the table, from appetizers to cocktails to dessert.
We plan to mix it up a bit too so it’s not always going to be dinners; coming up in the next couple of months I’m going to have an anniversary celebration of my Friday Cocktails with appetizers, drinks and dessert; we’ll have a Dessert extravaganza for the holidays and I know we already have an ice cream social planned for next year!
Progressive Eats will always be the last Tuesday Thursday of the month so on the following Friday I thought it would be fun to include a cocktail for Friday Cocktails that matched our theme. This month it’s all about Summer in the South so our menu included some amazing dishes that you could expect to find down where people say y’all and welcome you into their home with such graciousness.
A Creole Chicken started things off and added to that amazing main course were some great appetizers, vegetable side dishes including my Creamed Corn with Bacon and Caramelized Onion (seriously to die for), a fresh Watermelon drink and two amazing desserts.
This fabulous food called for both something Southern and crowd friendly; Southerners are always having a picnic, potluck or big family backyard get together and what better than this Bourbon Punch With Pink Grapefruit and Mint?
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about being lucky enough to meet one of the owners of Garrison Brothers, a Texas bourbon distillery. Yes, you read that right. Texas, not Kentucky. Love their bourbon, loved Charlie and thought what better than the recipe HE had given to me for a Texas Bourbon Punch with Pink Grapefruit and Mint.
It was perfect. It’s definitely got bourbon in it but it’s the refreshing citrus that leads the way. My friend Sandy came over to help me, or so she said, she even brought me those gorgeous grapefruit. But we started chatting and had a glass of wine and somehow my best efforts got waylaid.
I think I know why. She is not particularly fond of bourbon so her plan worked; ply me with Chinese food and good conversation and we wouldn’t have to go there. Big mistake my friend, I’m betting even you would love this one and I saved some for you to test. Go on, take me up on the bet…I can always use some extra cash! 🙂
Just a great summer cocktail for one or for many; hope you’ll try it…and look for next month’s Progressive Eats when we’ll continue the summer fest with Summer Barbecue! YUM!! Ready to make this cocktail? Here’s all you’ll need (ingredient amounts and instructions in printable recipe below):
- Water and sugar to make a simple syrup
- Mint sprigs
- Bourbon
- Fresh grapefruit (or sure, in a pinch, buy a bottle of juice!)
- Angustora Bitters
- Club Soda
I did make a large ice block for a punchbowl simply using one of my stainless mixing bowls; it melts so much slower when it’s a big piece of ice so totally worth making if you have the space. I combined juice and club soda in the ice block…in retrospect I would have lined the bottom of the bowl with thin slices of grapefruit to make it pretty!
PIN IT! ‘Texas Bourbon Punch With Pink Grapefruit and Mint’
Texas Bourbon Punch With Pink Grapefruit and Mint
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup water
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 15 fresh mint sprigs divided use
- 4 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice strained
- 2 & 1/2 cups Garrison Brothers Texas Straight bourbon whiskey or other premium bourbon
- 12 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 ice block for punchbowl
- Club soda
- Mint leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Combine water and sugar in small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves.
- Increase heat and bring to boil. Add five mint sprigs. Remove from heat; let cool completely.
- Strain syrup into a large pitcher. Add grapefruit juice, bourbon and bitters and 10 mint sprigs.
- Chill for several hours or overnight.
- Add ice block to bowl.
- Pour grapefruit and bourbon mixture over ice through a strainer.
- Fill glasses with ice and fill approximately 3/4 full with bourbon and juice mixture; top with chilled soda and stir.
- Garnish with mint leaves.
What a perfect drink for summer! It’s summer .. and we are meeting soon.. [hint hint]
There will be a cocktail for sure. Peach Melba Martini maybe? Probably! 🙂
Now this is a perfect cocktail to accompany our first Progressive Eats dinner! Pink grapefruit is one of my personal favorites as is bourbon, so you know I’m all over this punch.
I’m not a big bourbon drinker typically using it more for cooking than imbibing but this one me over with it’s citrus note; perfect for our event, thanks for helping me choose! 🙂
Wow, does this sound good! Pinning for later.
So good; even my dear friend who does not like bourbon LOVED them!
Bourbon is perfect for a nice summer punch! And it works so well with grapefruit (mint too, of course, but that’s such a common–but good!–combo). Good block of ice, too. 😉
The ice threw me for a bit because I don’t remember when I’ve seen any for sale and in truth I didn’t have two days or the space to freeze one. This worked so perfectly. And it didn’t dilute it much either, which is good because after photos I put it back in a pitcher so my neighbors and I can enjoy them tonight!