Bowle is a traditional German summer drink and very easy to prepare. It derives its name from the English word “bowl” as it is typically served in a large glass bowl and poured into drinking glasses with a ladle. It is as refreshing as champagne but a lot fruitier. This recipe is for the strawberry variant, but you can make it with any variety of fruit. Your guests will love it. What makes it special compared to other alcoholic fruit punches is the freshness of its ingredients and the fact that it is not typically too sweet.
Ingredients (for 5-7 people):
- 3 lb fresh strawberries
- 3 tbsp. sugar or sweetener (preferably a sweetener that tastes like sugar, e.g. Splenda)
- 3 tsp. powdered cinnamon
- Up to 1 bottle (750 ml) dry white wine (as much as is needed to cover the sliced strawberries); preferably white burgundy
- 3 bottles of chilled champagne (brut or extra-dry)
Wash and cut the fresh strawberries into slices. Add sugar/sweetener, cinnamon, and white wine. Stir the mixture and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator so all ingredients can mix well.
Take the mixture out of the refrigerator 15 minutes before the party begins and fill it into a large glass bowl. Fill the bowl up with three bottles of champagne and put it back into the refrigerator for another 10 minutes. Always serve chilled.
Bowle is best served in wide, flat glasses, e.g., margarita glasses or cocktail glasses, or punch glasses. As it is served with a bit of the fruit in each glass, champagne flutes tend to be inconvenient. Be careful: Even though bowle seems like a very light drink, don’t have too much of it or it will give you a headache next morning!
Maibowle (May Punch)
Once you’ve tried the strawberry variant, you can try out other variations, e.g. with fresh peaches, blueberries, pineapple or other exotic fruit.
One famous traditional variant is the so-called Maibowle (May punch), which is made with fresh woodruff. But woodruff appears to be hardly known in North America…Anyway, in case you find any, here’s a quick and easy recipe for the beginner:
Ingredients for Maibowle:
12 sprigs of young woodruff
11/2 cup powdered sugar or sweetener
1 lb sliced strawberries
4 chilled bottles of dry white wine (preferably German Mosel wine)
1 cup brandy
1 lemon
1 chilled bottle of extra-dry champagne or carbonated mineral water
Mix woodruff, sweetener, 1 bottle of white wine, sliced strawberries, juice of one lemon, and brandy in a bowl and cover for up to 30 minutes (not longer!). Remove the woodruff. Stir contents of bowl thoroughly and pour over a block of ice in a punch bowl. Then add the remaining three bottles of wine and the champagne.
