The Welcome Punch

It’s lovely to greet your guests with a glass of cold sparkling punch at any time of the year. This recipe is a favourite because everyone loves the flavour, and most of the work can be done ahead of time; just add the ginger beer, bubbly and ice at the last minute. There’s no need to make too much—one 6-oz glass per guest is the idea (okay, maybe a top-up for the people who arrived first)—then move on to something else. There’s nothing worse than warm, flat, diluted punch that has been sitting on a table for an hour. With its fruit juices and ginger beer, this packs less of a punch than a glass of wine.