From the name alone, you might expect that Punch Club is a shabby knockoff of the 1999 movie, Fight Club. Further strengthening this likeness is the fact that Punch Club is held only once a week, on Thursdays. And although both Fight Club and Punch Club both have the potential to knock you out, the former does with uppercuts and jabs what the latter does with expertly crafted cocktails and, well, punch.

Punch is a drink that we rarely see these days. If asked, most people would either reference the Hawaiian version or the occasional non-alcoholic bowl of punch with a tub of sherbet floating in it at a holiday party. Historically, though, punch has played a prominent role in English and American alcoholic beverage consumption: a bowl of punch would be put out, and everyone would stand around drinking until there was no more punch or nobody left standing. It was a very social, convivial thing, but one can see why modern society eventually phased that practice out.

All is not lost, however: in the last few years, pioneering bartenders have realized that a communal punch bowl can be an excellent offering at a bar, and cocktail joints from San Francisco to New York have started offering a daily special bowl of punch. The Gibson, another new cocktail bar in D.C., got a mention in The New York Times for offering punch at special events.