Thanks folks,. They decided on the truck and bubbles thing. Came home laughing like teenage boys.
[sub]Oh, right. They ARE teenage boys.[/sub]
Wow, when I was 8 in the early 80s I’d put it in my mouth and roll it about and blow fog rings. I never got hurt doing it.
I got it when we went to a talk a University professor was given at UH Hilo when my Mom was a student there. What a difference 20 years makes.
Purple Jesus Punch (aka Trash Can Punch, aka Purple Death, aka Magic Koolaid) is truly a beverage designed for excess… a drink basically meant to get you drunk and keep you there as long as possible before you collapse from alcohol poisoning or diabetes, whichever gets you first.
I was well-known, in my youth, for my ability to make the stuff. I learned, also, that what you put into it isn’t as important as how you serve it – mine was considered sublime, intoxicating, tasty, and downright psychedelic… despite the fact that I never lavished a whole lot of attention on it. The recipe here can be mixed in minutes with a garden hose, assuming you have all the ingredients handy.
Start with NEW trash cans, fresh from the hardware store. Used ones CAN be used, but used cans usually show signs of wear, which will make your female guests run shrieking into the night at the idea of drinking the stuff… as opposed to AFTER drinking the stuff, which is a perfectly normal by-product and side effect.
Galvanized aluminum cans are best – plastic cans often leak, and steel cans, depending on the punch ingredients, can corrode within minutes to the point of springing a dozen little leaks all over the can. Go with the thirty-gallon or 35-gallon size, unless you’re expecting serious attendance.
My favored recipe involved a brand new garbage can and forty cans of frozen concentrated punch; generic is good, but I like Minute Maid. Add a couple bags crushed ice, and, using a garden hose, fill the can about two-thirds full. Add one bottle RealLemon concentrated lemon juice (about 8 oz). Stir.
Now slice two or three oranges into thin slices, and toss them in. Other nice touches include floating flowers, toy boats, rubber duckies, and a human skull on a string, which is drawn out from time to time to check the “soup”, so to speak – I still have the plastic one I used for this purpose. I recommend the anatomical models used for teaching, instead of the cheesy ones you can buy around Halloween. Have a camera handy to catch people’s expressions, if you do this – you’ll be glad you did.
Another neat touch is dry ice – a ten-pound block should be plenty. You can just float it on top of the punch, which creates plenty of Dr. Jekyll fog and bubble effects, but a true artistic touch is to rig a cage in the bottom of the can with chicken wire, weighted down with something, which keeps the ice below the surface of the punch, while making it bubble and smoke madly. Not only does it LOOK great, but it keeps the stuff stirred.
This isn’t the safest thing in the world to do, though – I guarantee that if you float the block, then a few hours later, when it’s about fist-sized, and everyone is roaring drunk, then some idiot is going to try to grab it and put it in his drink or eat it or some damn thing, and then wonder drunkenly why the flesh is falling off his fingers. Be vigilant, or use the chickenwire method.
If you’re using dry ice, do NOT pour alcoholic beverages directly onto the ice!!! Ideally, you should put the dry ice on the bottom in the chickenwire, cover it with the regular crushed ice, then add the frozen punch, then the water, THEN add the booze. It won’t explode or anything, but the dry ice can vaporize alcohols, and cause them to separate from their component liquors. At best, it affects the taste; at worst, it lowers the potency.
Be sure not to divulge the ingredients – if someone asks what’s in it, just tell them to pull the string and see for themselves…
Now, you’re ready for the good stuff. Ideally, when available, four gallons of 100 proof medicinal-grade alcohol is your active ingredient. When you can’t bribe a doctor, you’ll have to settle for about five or six gallons of Everclear or high-proof vodka. This is not to say that you can’t be creative, though – the above recipe creates a fruity drink with an alcohol content of about 22-25 percent, or less, depending on the strength of the vodka. Other forms of alcohol can be substituted – dark rum, in particular, blends well with fruit punch and is quite tasty, but lowers the potency.
Given the amount of punch involved, I don’t recommend LSD as an ingredient; getting enough LSD to dose the number of people who are going to be needed to consume 25-30 gallons of punch is a problem in and of itself, and even if you manage that, you’d better be ready to deal with that chick who drank twenty cups of the stuff and is now going to strip naked and launch herself to Alpha Centauri by sheer force of personality. It was often spread around that the punch contained psychoactives, though, even if it really didn’t – it encourages many folks to drink more.
Lastly, remember that this stuff IS perishable. Refrigerate or discard any unused portion promptly. Drink responsibly, and be aware of your local laws regarding alcoholic beverages.
Party hearty, dudes…
Wang-Ka, you can party with me ANY time!
Have mercy. I am glad the boy has already used up the dry ice!