Russian Spring Punch

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (26 ratings)

Serve in a

Sling glass

Garnish:

Lemon slice & seasonal berries

How to make:

SHAKE first 6 ingredients with ice and strain into ice-filled glass charged with champagne.

7 fresh Raspberries
1 1/2 fl oz Ketel One Vodka
1/4 fl oz Giffard Crème de Framboise
1/4 fl oz Joseph Cartron Double Crème de Cassis de Bourgogne
3/4 fl oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1/4 fl oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
1 2/3 fl oz Brut champagne/sparkling wine
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Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

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Recipe contains the following allergens:

Review:

Well-balanced, complex and refreshing.

History:

Created in the 1980s by Dick Bradsell, London, England. In the Dec-Jan 1998 edition of CLASS magazine (page 6), Dick wrote about his drink, "Many springs ago, I conceived the Russian Spring Punch which is basically a spiked Kir Royal over ice. This conforms to the punch formula of 1 sweet, 2 sour, 3 strong, 4 weak except the most of the 'weak' bit (normally soda or juice) is replaced with champagne, turning the recipe into a sledgehammer of a cocktail. To make, fill a Collins glass with ice. Add 50ml best vodka, 25ml lemon juice, two teaspoons of cassis and two teaspoons of sugar syrup. Top with champagne and stir. Garnish with a lemon slice and some berries."

In August 2015, Dick told us the full story: "I created this drink for friends of ours, Rebecca du Pont de Bie and Peter Kent, in the 80s. I think I was still working at Zanzibar at the time, but it might very well have been Fred's: it was before my daughter Beatrix was born in 1988.

Peter was a gay guy, who designed shops and married Hamish Bowles, who is editor-at-large for Vogue. They shared an extremely nice flat in the Knightsbridge end of Kensington, and they wanted to have a cocktail party but they didn't have enough money.

So I suggested that, as they didn't have quite enough cash for prestigious amounts of drink, they requested that everyone brought a bottle of bubbly. So if you brought rubbish, you got the drinks rubbish, and if you brought quality, you drank quality.

I stocked the bar with glasses, and in each glass was a shot of vodka, half a shot of lemon juice, two barspoons of sugar, one barspoon of cassis and ice. People got to drink their whole bottle of champagne and however many shots of vodka they felt they could manage.

It was lethal, that thing. We had people falling down the stairs and dancing around in wild abandon. I called it the Russian Spring Punch because it has vodka in it, which is Russian, and it's a Collins, or a Fizz, which is a spring drink."

Alcohol content:

  • 1.4 standard drinks
  • 13.98% alc./vol. (27.96° proof)
  • 19.6 grams of pure alcohol
Difford's Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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David Embury's birthday image

David Embury's birthday

The author of that seminal work, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David Augustus Embury was born on this day in 1886 in Pine Woods, upstate New York. He

Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night Cocktails image

Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night Cocktails

Remember, remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason, why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.

National Nacho Day image

National Nacho Day

Not a fan of nachos? Then today is nacho lucky day! Yes, today is National Nacho Day, a day dedicated to those delicious fried tortilla chips that we love

National Harvey Wallbanger Day image

National Harvey Wallbanger Day

Of all the cocktails to have its very own day, the Harvey Wallbanger is probably the most surprising. But, yes, Harvey Wallbanger Day is a thing in American.

Irish Coffee arrived in America this day image

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The splendidly named Stanton Delaplane, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, may have won a Pulitzer Prize for Reporting, but his legacy remains

Happy Hour Day image

Happy Hour Day

Every hour should be happy but in most bars, this term does not reflect a collective state of joyousness but a period of comparatively cheap booze. Not

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