Picon Punch Cocktail Recipe

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 brought a wave of fortune-seekers to the American West. But it wasn’t just miners. The following years also saw an influx of Basque immigrants from the Pyrenees mountains' border communities between Spain and France. Many found work as sheepherders in the rugged terrain of the Golden State, along with pockets in Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Arizona. By 1910, an estimated 8,400 Basques resided in the Western states. 

The Basques usually crossed the country by rail, settling in towns along the route. They’d open hotels, serving as landing pads for recent immigrants who didn’t speak the language and were searching for work. The sheepherders could pick up letters from home at these makeshift post offices and send correspondence back to invite family members to join them. However, the most important of these hotels’ functions was as restaurants serving a taste of home. 

Home of the Picon Punch

Many of these Basque boarding houses have shuttered their doors in recent decades, but one mainstay is Louis’ Basque Corner, open since 1967 in Reno, Nevada. Founded by Louis and Lorraine Erreguible, immigrants from Mauleon in the French Pyrenees, the restaurant serves heaping family-style portions of sweetbreads and roasted lamb with French bread and Basque beans. 

It’s known as the self-described “home of the Picon Punch.” Also known as the “Basque cocktail,” the drink is based around a bitter orange spirit called Amer Picon, invented in 1837 with bitter oranges, gentian root, and cinchona, the plant that yields quinine. Named for its creator, Gaëtan Picon, it was originally marketed for its medicinal uses. The punch has more than once been nominated as Nevada’s official state cocktail. 

These days, you’ll find it on the menus at Wool Growers Restaurant in Los Banos, California, and Leku Ona in Boise, Idaho. Several Nevada restaurants also carry on the tradition with Louis’ Basque Corner, like The Martin Hotel in Winnemucca, The Star Hotel in Elko, and J.T. Basque in Gardnerville. 

It’s now made without its namesake ingredient, which is no longer exported to the United States. Instead, Picon Punch is made with Torani Amer, from a California-based company. The Depot, another Reno bar and restaurant, also distills its own version. 

“[With] The Depot’s Amer, we took a craft approach and tried to emulate more of what the original recipe would have been prior to commercial distilled neutral grain spirits and flavoring additives,” says Chris Shanks, a sixth-generation Nevadan and owner of both The Depot and Louis’ Basque Corner. “You're really just getting the bitterness from the gentian or the cinchona bark, and then the sweet orange flavor from the bitter sweet orange peels.” 

Earlier this year, Torani transferred production to the Reno-based Ferino Distillery, which specializes in making Italian-style amari, to ensure the traditional drink continues for generations to come.

“I saw how central Picon Punch was not only to the local Basque identity, but to the regional identity of Nevada, California, Idaho, and Oregon,” says Joe Cannella, the distillery’s founder and master distiller. “Last month, we relaunched it as Ferino Amer, maintaining the original recipe while building a deeper connection to Nevada and the legacy of the Picon Punch.” 

Now that the production of the base liqueur is firmly established and American tastes continue to shift towards bitter cocktails, it seems the Picon Punch will be around for a while.

Why the Picon Punch works

This recipe is courtesy of Louis’ Basque Corner and is bittersweet, herbaceous, with candied orange notes. This cocktail can be built directly into the glass. Louis’ Basque Corner likes to use a Libbey 8054 Georgian Irish Coffee glass. 

The grenadine lends a touch of sweetness, and the club soda lengthens the aperitif for a refreshing afternoon sipper. The float of brandy adds a boozy backbone and complexity. And the twist of lemon garnish kicks up the bright citrus qualities.