The Philadelphia’s Fish House Punch precedes many modern cocktails and what was considered a cocktail at the time. The Fish House Punch was created in 1732 at a fishing club called ‘State in Schuylkill’, where fishing was but a minor activity and most gentlemen members would engage in drinking fine whiskies and smoking cigars. Rumor has it that the punch bowl that they used was large enough for a family of ducks to swim in and it doubled as a baptismal font because it was large enough to submerge a child fully during its baptism.
The State in Schuylkill club was often referred to as just simply, The Fish House, hence the Fish House Punch.
