Green Batched Punch
Green Batched Punch serves about twelve: 500ml of Irish whiskey, 250ml of fresh lime juice, 200ml of simple syrup, 200ml of blue curaçao and 500ml of apple juice, chilled, then poured over a block of ice in a punch bowl, with 500ml of cold sparkling water added when the first guests come in. A cup of about 180ml is about 2.0 UK units, the whole bowl about 24. We wrote it for St Patrick’s Day. The green is mixed in the bowl: blue curaçao, which the Oxford Companion says Bols introduced in 1912 beside the artificially coloured red and green varieties, meeting the yellow of the apple and lime juice. Apple juice carries the whiskey to the lime without thinning it, and the sparkling water goes in last so the first cup and the last both have some lift.
Glassware: Punch Cup
Garnish:
Ingredients
500ml
A smooth blended Irish whiskey at our working 40% ABV. Peated or heavily sherried bottles fight the apple and lime. A 700ml bottle leaves enough over for four 50ml measures.
250ml
About ten limes, squeezed the same day. Bottled lime juice tastes cooked and dull at this volume.
200ml
Sugar and water, 1:1 by weight. It is the measure to adjust after tasting, and to trim if your apple juice is sweet.
200ml
A curaçao liqueur dyed blue, De Kuyper’s is 20% ABV on LWC’s UK trade listing, and we take 20%. It brings orange, and the blue that turns the yellow juices green. Check the label if a guest avoids artificial colours.
500ml
Alcohol-free. Clear juice keeps the green brighter; cloudy gives more body and dulls the colour a little. Either carries the whiskey to the lime.
Instructions
The day before, mix the Irish whiskey, simple syrup, blue curaçao and apple juice in a jug and refrigerate. Freeze a tub of water for a block of ice.
On the day, squeeze the lime juice, stir it into the base and taste.
As guests arrive, pour the base over the ice block in a punch bowl and add the cold sparkling water.
Stir once and ladle into cups.
Our version
Our own St Patrick’s Day bowl, not adapted from any published recipe: 500ml of Irish whiskey with lime, simple syrup, 200ml of blue curaçao and apple juice, topped with sparkling water, for about twelve cups.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Hold back the sparkling water until the guests arrive. Once the bowl is fizzing it starts going flat, and nothing restores it. If the party runs long, add it in two halves, one at the start and one halfway through. Taste the still base before the water goes in. It should taste a little too strong and a little too sweet, because the water and the melting ice take both down. If the lime is sharp, add syrup 25ml at a time. Use one large block of ice in the bowl rather than cubes. It melts more slowly, so the last cup is not much weaker than the first. Freeze a tub of water the day before.
Behind the Green Batched Punch
Flavour Profile
A Bowl for St Patrick’s Day
Green Batched Punch exists for a St Patrick’s Day party where mixing drinks one at a time would keep the host at the counter all night. Irish whiskey leads it, and the bowl does the serving.
Where the Green Comes From
The colour is mixed in the bowl. The Oxford Companion, in an entry by David Wondrich, describes curaçao as originally a liqueur flavoured with the dried peels of the laraha orange, and says blue curaçao was first introduced by the Dutch firm Lucas Bols in 1912 to supplement the red and green varieties, which were artificially coloured. Blue poured into yellow juice reads green. The apple sets the shade: clear juice gives a brighter green, cloudy a softer, murkier one.
So the punch is coloured, not naturally green. Without the curaçao it would be pale gold, and it would lose the orange that sits under the lime.
Apple Juice and Sparkling Water
Apple juice is the bulk of the base. It joins the whiskey to the lime and brings body, where the same volume of still water would leave the bowl thin. The sparkling water gives lift, and it goes in last for that reason.
The Batch Maths
The bowl comes to about 2.15 litres before the ice, twelve cups of about 180ml. Each cup carries about 42ml of whiskey and 17ml of blue curaçao, about 2.0 UK units.
Green Batched Punch: the bowl for twelve, one cup, and a double bowl; our recipe and our calculation
Irish whiskey, 40% ABV
- Bowl for twelve
- 500ml
- In each cup
- About 42ml
- Bowl for twenty-four
- 1 litre
Fresh lime juice
- Bowl for twelve
- 250ml
- In each cup
- About 21ml
- Bowl for twenty-four
- 500ml
Simple syrup
- Bowl for twelve
- 200ml
- In each cup
- About 17ml
- Bowl for twenty-four
- 400ml
Blue curaçao, about 20% ABV
- Bowl for twelve
- 200ml
- In each cup
- About 17ml
- Bowl for twenty-four
- 400ml
Apple juice
- Bowl for twelve
- 500ml
- In each cup
- About 42ml
- Bowl for twenty-four
- 1 litre
Sparkling water
- Bowl for twelve
- 500ml
- In each cup
- About 42ml
- Bowl for twenty-four
- 1 litre
UK units
- Bowl for twelve
- About 24
- In each cup
- About 2.0
- Bowl for twenty-four
- About 48
| Ingredient | Bowl for twelve | In each cup | Bowl for twenty-four |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish whiskey, 40% ABV | 500ml | About 42ml | 1 litre |
| Fresh lime juice | 250ml | About 21ml | 500ml |
| Simple syrup | 200ml | About 17ml | 400ml |
| Blue curaçao, about 20% ABV | 200ml | About 17ml | 400ml |
| Apple juice | 500ml | About 42ml | 1 litre |
| Sparkling water | 500ml | About 42ml | 1 litre |
| UK units | About 24 | About 2.0 | About 48 |
How to Serve It
From a punch bowl over one large block of ice, with a ladle, into punch cups or small tumblers. Put the bowl by the food, with a jug of water beside it.
For an Irish whiskey sour turned green the same way, the Shamrock Sour; for Irish whiskey and ginger beer by the glass, the Dublin Mule.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whiskey (Irish)Irish whiskey is whiskey distilled on the island of Ireland and aged there in wood for three years or longer, and bottled at no less than 40% ABV. The Irish Whiskey technical file names four types, pot still, malt, grain and blended, and the soft blends are what our nine Irish recipes mostly use. The Irish Whiskey technical file calls triple distillation the traditional practice, not a rule, and specifies unpeated malt only for pot still whiskey.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in Green Batched Punch?
What makes the punch green?
How far ahead can I make it?
How do I scale it for twenty-four?
Which Irish whiskey should I use?
Can I make it without alcohol?
How strong is Green Batched Punch?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (David Wondrich), “curaçao (sometimes spelled curaçoa)” (secondary source: originally a liqueur flavoured with the dried peels of the laraha orange; blue curaçao first introduced by Lucas Bols in 1912 beside red and green varieties, all artificially coloured; the earliest curaçao would have been colourless).
- LWC, “De Kuyper Blue Curacao 70cl NRB” (UK wholesaler listing: Alcohol By Volume 20%).
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Fireside Punch
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026