Is there anything better than Memorial Day? The weather’s nice, school’s careening towards a close, and the summer season and all its mosquito-laden, sweat-soaked glory is just getting started. Memorial Day is sort of the Friday afternoon of the summer – all the fun, sunburn, and backyard shindigs are ahead. More importantly, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the outside drinking season.
What would become Memorial Day started out as unofficial gatherings by black southerners to decorate soldiers’ gravesites on Civil War battlefields. After a few such events in the early 1860s, what is considered the first ‘Decoration Day’ took place on May 1 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina. On this day, around 10,000 recently-freed black people held a parade to honor 257 dead Union soldiers, who they buried in proper graves which they decorated with flowers.
Like many holidays, Decoration Day’s original intention was quickly back-seated in lieu of parties and hotdogs. By 1869, complaints were made about the day becoming more about ‘banquets’ and ‘pomp’ than honoring war dead. Any hopes of removing the day’s leisure focus were smashed in 1971 when the Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect. This Act moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May, perennially tying it to a 3-day weekend. A year later, Time Magazine called it a ‘3-day nationwide hootenanny’, which confirms that whoever wrote that had never in their lives had sexual intercourse with another person in the room.
Oh, I can understand the complaints, and there’s no doubt that we should remember those who have served and those who have died in conflict. But let’s also keep in mind that America is globally notorious for being stingy with holiday time. So let’s forgive Americans for not fully committing to the rather serious intent of a holiday and instead focusing on the small joy of a free Monday. Besides, do 3 billion people only look forward to December 25 because they get to celebrate Christ’s birthday? No. So let’s chill.
In any event, let’s look at Memorial Day for its role in the year: the onset of the outside drinking season. People have technically been drinking outdoors for eons. After all, when our Neanderthal ancestors Og and Moog ingested some fermented fruit and ended up buzzed and jonesing for a cigarette that wouldn’t exist for 58,000 years, they did so outside. But where did deliberate outside drinking begin?
Like most things boozy, this tradition kicks off with our lushy ancestors in Ancient Rome. From April to October, barely a week passed when the Romans weren’t hogging down wine in a garden or a villa courtyard and making their servants reenact The Aeneid’s saucy parts.
But it’s with the advent of the picnic that outside drinking gets a boost in the West. The original ‘pique-niques’ began in France in the late 17th century. These were indoor social gatherings where each guest contributed food or drink (think potluck dinner, but with French accents and threesomes). This idea spread to England, where it merged with the Brits’ growing fascination for gardens and nature and passing out on the grass. During the 18th and 19th centuries, improved train transportation and rising leisure time turned picnicking into a popular outdoor pastime. People could get out of the city and drink and eat near trees – and they liked it. By the Victorian era, ‘picnics’ had become a national craze, featuring outdoor dining and plenty of alcohol, including wine, punch, ale, and claret cup.
Across the pond, Americans inherited these French and British picnic traditions. Plus, they had loads of space to enjoy the traditions of eating and drinking outside before wandering off to get scalped by a war party attracted by the smell of chicken. But nowhere in America did people enjoy drinking outside more than at The Schuylkill Fishing Company.
The Fish House or the State in Schuylkill (because it claimed to be a sovereign nation) was founded in 1732 on the banks of the Schuylkill River outside Philadelphia. It began as a fishing club for Philly’s merchants, politicians, and hard-drinking Quakers. It eventually evolved into a gentlemen’s club, mock government and outdoor dining society. It is considered the oldest continuously operating social club in the English-speaking world (though not everyone agrees. (cough . . . cough . . . the British . . . cough.)
The social heart of the organization was the Fish House or Castle, a riverside clubhouse where members gathered throughout the warmer months. The club formally opened its sporting season on May 1 and held regular fishing days between May and October. These gatherings combined outdoor recreation with long communal meals and heavy drinking. Freshly caught perch or shad were cooked over wood fires and members took turns serving as cooks. All of early America’s movers and shakers partied at the Fish House, including George Washington, Gilbert du Motier, and Marquis de Lafayette.
Of course, fish and camaraderie weren’t the only draws. The club became famous for creating Fish House Punch, one of America’s oldest known mixed drinks. All contemporary punch is a descendent of India’s paanch. As early as the 17th century, visitors to India noted locals drinking a punch of rose water, spirits, lime juice, and sugar. The word ‘punch’ comes from the Hindi word ‘paanch’ meaning ‘five’, which in this case refers to the drink’s five ingredients (water, sugar, spices, alcohol, and citrus). This may be why the original punch doesn’t taste much like our version of punch, which is usually just fruit punch Crystal Lite mixed with whatever rum was on sale at the store. Like leprosy, cholera, and an undying love of curry, punch was brought to the West by British sailors.
The earliest known description of the Fish House Punch comes in 1744, and was so potent that for three days after drinking it George Washington was unable to write in his journal, chop down any trees, or lie about it. It was, nevertheless, one of our first president’s favorite drinks, having once done thirteen toasts with it at a victory celebration. The punch differs from other barbecue drinks in its communality. People dipped cups into a giant bowl filled with the ingredients and a large block of ice. One indulger, Virginia diplomat William Black, said the punchbowl was large enough so that six baby geese could swim around in it. We can only hope they tested this theory after a few ladles-full, but, like the identity of Jack the Ripper and the fate of the Roanoke colony, this information will remain a secret of history.
Fish House Punch
Ingredients
- 3 cups Jamaican rum
- 1 ½ cups cognac
- ½ cup peach brandy (can sub apple brandy)
- ¼ cup peach liqueur
- 1 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 quart water (up to 3 quarts water)
- No deeds to do
- No promises to keep
- Plans only to get dappled and drowsy and ready for sleep
- 6 baby geese (optional)
Instructions
Chill everything in the fridge for a day – the alcohol can even go in the freezer. The colder, the better, because the colder it is, the less you will realize how sporked you’re getting. Pour everything into a giant bowl over a large block of ice. This amount should have 25 servings. So invite a few friends or just drink it on your own and offer it to the emergency medical technicians who come to pump your stomach. If you’re testing Black’s theory, add your six baby geese but only after another punchbowl has been attained. Drink to the geese and drink to those people in all countries and cultures who gave their all in the service of their country.
