Fish house punch

[citation needed] A 1744 note by the secretary of an embassy of Virginia Commissioners contains what may be the earliest record of the punch.

Meeting local notables at the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, he described being served "a Bowl of fine Lemon Punch big enough to have Swimmed half a dozen of young Geese.

"[2] America's first president, George Washington, indulged in thirteen toasts – one for each state – during a victory celebration at New York's Fraunces Tavern, and it is said that after he partook of fish house punch at Philadelphia's State in Schuylkill, he couldn't bring himself to make an entry in his diary for the following three days.

[4] The State in Schuylkill fish house punch is traditionally made in a large bowl that did double duty as a baptismal font for citizens' infants.

Another version states that it was created in 1848 by Shippen Willing of Philadelphia, to celebrate the momentous occasion of women being allowed into the premises of the "fish house" for the first time in order to enliven the annual Christmas party.