Crimean Cup à la Marmora

Description
Crimean Cup, a la Marmora from How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas—original source of recipe, out of copyright
 * Serves: 30

Ingredients

 * 1 quart orgeat syrup
 * 1 pint cognac
 * ½ do. Maraschino
 * ½ do. Jamaican rum
 * 2 bottles chilled champagne
 * 2 do. soda water
 * 6 ounces sugar
 * 4 medium lemons

Directions

 * 1) Thinly peel the lemons, then place the rind in a bowl with the sugar; soak them well for a minute or two in order to extract the flavor from the lemon.
 * 2) Next, squeeze the juice of two lemons into the bowl, add two bottles of soda water and stir well until the sugar is dissolved.
 * 3) Pour in the orgeat syrup and whip the mixture well with a whisk, in order to whiten the composition.
 * 4) Then, add the cognac, rum and maraschino and strain everything into a punch bowl.
 * 5) Add the champagne just before serving.
 * 6) While adding the champagne, stir the mixture well with a ladle—this will render the cup creamy and mellow.