Picon Punch
Regional
- Meaning
- Northern Nevada's Basque-bar cocktail, now the official state drink.
- Type
- Regionalism
- Used in
- Reno, Nevada, Idaho, California
What does “Picon Punch” mean
The Picon Punch is a tall amaro cocktail — Amer Picon, grenadine, soda, a brandy float, lemon twist — invented around 1899 in San Francisco Basque boardinghouses and adopted as the unofficial drink of Nevada's Basque sheep-herding diaspora. Served in a stemmed Louie Picon glass in Elko, Winnemucca, and Reno, it was designated Nevada's official state cocktail in 2025. Outside northern Nevada (and Basque restaurants in Idaho/California), nobody orders it.
Where it's used
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