Bar Bayonne in Seattle takes its inspiration from Basque Country, so it’s no surprise that there’s a Picon Punch on the menu. But how the drink found a home at the newly opened bar is a winding tale of American cocktail culture, immigration and the famous, sometimes elusive liqueur Amer Picon.
Picon Punch originated in the American West, most likely in San Francisco, in the final years of the 19th century. At the time, the bitter French aperitif Amer Picon had just reached the West Coast, where an offshoot of East Coast cocktail culture had been developing since the Gold Rush. So, too, had a Basque immigrant culture centered on ranching and shepherding, as well as running family-style restaurants and boarding houses. Picon Punch was adopted by these establishments as a house cocktail. To this day, the drink is strongly associated with the Basque diaspora across the West, from Reno to Bakersfield, Stockton to Boise.
Mostly a “punch” in name alone—all but a few historical recipes include citrus—Picon Punch is typically a mix of Amer Picon or other brands of “amer” (a bitter French liqueur), grenadine, club soda and, often, a small measure of brandy. It’s usually garnished with a lemon twist. One of the earliest printed recipes for the drink appears in the second edition of William Boothby’s American Bartender, published in San Francisco in 1900. There, it’s just called Amer Picon, but the shape of the drink—the liqueur plus grenadine and soda water—is there. (For some reason, however, the same drink in the first edition of the book included orgeat in place of grenadine.)
Amer Picon has not been available for some decades in the United States, and its proof and bitterness levels have fallen dramatically since the 1920s. In the Basque American communities of the Western U.S., Picon Punch is most often made with Torani Amer, a very inexpensive 80-proof version of the original Amer Picon.
Zac Overman, beverage director for Bar Bayonne and its companion restaurant, L’Oursin, has long championed European ingredients, plugging them into templates from the American cocktail canon. At L’Oursin, Overman developed a “house Picon” that attempts to capture the flavor of the original French product as it was in the 19th century—a project that other modern bartenders have undertaken in the past. His formula includes two Italian amari: Amaro Montenegro, which lends orange zest, frankincense and clove, and Amaro Abano, which has strong notes of cardamom and cinnamon. Layered on top of that is orange three ways: dry Curaçao, orange bitters and a bitter orange peel–infused neutral grain spirit. A little water is added to bring it down to the appropriate proof.
For the grenadine component, Overman reached for another housemade ingredient, what he’s dubbed “Vinadine,” which uses red wine in place of pomegranate juice and adds pomegranate molasses, yielding a tangy, tannic syrup. The program at Bar Bayonne is super streamlined with drinks like the Suze-Tonic and Martini Classique; there’s no juicing to do and everything is batched. In the Picon Punch, Overman saw an opportunity to “put something on the menu that had at least some citrusy notes.”
For the brandy, Overman leans on Armagnac, a spirit that has long been essential to L’Oursin’s cocktail program. Finally, there’s the effervescent element. Instead of sticking with traditional soda water, Overman opted to push the drink in a spritzy direction by topping it with cava. (Not a surprising move for someone who’s been bringing back the cocktail royale for years.) Keeping with the spritz theme, the lemon twist is replaced with an orange half-wheel.
Overman says Bar Bayonne’s Picon Punch has been a hit with customers thus far. The food-friendly spritz goes perfectly with the salty, meaty small plates at the bar. According to Overman, “It’s just a really good, sessionable snacky drink.”
