Not Our Mother’s Christmas Punch
Apparently nothing is sacred.
I blame the folks responsible for Not Your Father’s beverages for the latest sacrilege. As a fan of their most excellent root beer, I was intrigued to spy their new ginger ale in my local big box store. It’s a pleasant ginger ale, as equally deceptive as its sister root beer in terms of drinkability/alcohol content.
I shared this news with my sisters on a recent chat where we were also discussing our mom’s traditional Christmas punch, a staple at her holiday gatherings for years. It was then that the synapse occurred – why not substitute the ginger ale mom used for the Not Your Father’s kind and its 5+ percent alcohol? I guess the larger question was, why not?
So The Tinker and I tried the grand experiment on Christmas morning, and it is delightful, delicious and deloverly. You can always use regular ginger ale for a non-alcoholic version. But for us? We’re sticking with the Not Our Mother’s version. And I think our mother would approve.
- 1 gallon Hawaiian Punch The original flavor
- 1/2 gallon Grapefrult Juice
- 1/2 gallon Pineapple Juice
- 1 package Cherry Koolaid
- 6 bottles Not Your Father's Ginger Ale or a 1 liter bottle of standard ginger ale (use Vernors if you can find it)
- Add all ingredients except the ginger ale in a large container. Refrigerate 12 hours or more to let the flavors merge. Add ginger ale to taste when serving to keep the punch pleasantly fizzy.
