If you've ever mixed up a dairy-based cocktail only to have it curdle in the shaker, then you, my friend, have already taken your first step to making a clarified milk punch. Okay, so there's far, far more to clarified milk punches than that, and it's certainly not a recent invention. Clarified milk punches are older than the lightning rod and carbonated water, but they're having a modern moment in the sun.
Maybe Netflix's bingeable Drink Masters brought this alcoholic punch into your life, or maybe you yearn to return to the mixology days of yore. No matter how you arrived at clarified milk punch, it's a delicious cocktail that's as clear as day and smooth as silk. And while the technique is old, the result is distinctly modern. Be a skeptic, but grab your ingredients and get started.
Clarified Milk Punch No. 1
Like a homemade pasta sauce, sourdough bread recipe, or the ongoing discussion of the right way to prepare a steak, there are several approaches to making a clarified milk punch. The most important part of each and every recipe is patience. Patience during the filtering process is key. Toss on an episode of Netflix's Drink Masters while you pass the time. The recipe makes roughly 32 ounces of clarified milk punch, or 8-10 servings. Store any leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two months.
Ingredients
- 2 cups freshly brewed Earl Grey tea
- 1 cup simple syrup
- ¾ cup ruby port
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup dark rum
- 4 ounces allspice dram
- 1 cup whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Lemon peels and grated nutmeg for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, add warm tea, simple syrup, ruby port, lemon juice, dark rum, and allspice dram. Stir.
- In large pitcher, add the warm, scalded milk. Add the tea mixture and stir. The milk should start to curdle.
- Allow the mixture to sit for approximately 60 minutes.
- Using a fine sieve, coffee filter, nut milk bag, or cheesecloth, filter the curdled mix into another clean container. Do not disturb the milk curds. Be patient.
- If the liquid isn't as clear as you like, filter a second time either back through the same curds (don't disturb the curds) or through a coffee filter or until you reach the desired clarity.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Garnish with lemon peels and grated nutmeg.
Clarified Milk Punch No. 2
Soothe your palate with a creamy and lemony clarified milk punch. Since it's made with Earl Grey, it's perfect in the afternoon. For sure. This recipe makes approximately four servings. Store any leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two months. If you really want to showcase the tea and lemon flavors, use ½ cup vodka instead of the vodka and rum.
Ingredients
- 1 cup freshly brewed Earl Grey tea
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup vodka
- ¼ cup rum
- 2 tablespoons simple syrup
- ½ cup whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Orange wheels for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix warm tea, lemon juice, vodka, rum, and simple syrup.
- Add the warm, scalded milk to a large pitcher. Add the tea mixture and stir. The mixture will start to curdle.
- Allow the mixture to sit for approximately 30-60 minutes.
- Using a cheesecloth, filter the curdled mix into another clean container. Take care not to disturb the curds while you filter. Be patient.
- If it's not as clear as you like, filter through the same bed of curds or a coffee filter until it reaches desired clarity.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Garnish with orange wheels.
Clarified Milk Punch No. 3
Let the bright, summery flavors of rum shine in a satiny cocktail. The recipe makes eight servings, which is good news for you since you'll find that this is your new making-dinner drink. Store any leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two months.
Ingredients
- 2 cups freshly brewed black tea
- 1 cup light rum
- ½ cup ruby port
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Mint sprigs for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix warm tea, light rum, ruby port, sugar, and lemon juice.
- In a large pitcher, add the warm, scalded milk. Add the tea mixture to the milk and stir. The mixture will start to curdle.
- Allow the mixture to sit for approximately 60 minutes.
- Using a fine sieve, cheesecloth, or coffee filter, strain the curdled mix into another clean container. Do not disturb the milk curds. Be patient.
- If it's not as clear as you like, filter a second time or more through the undisturbed curds or a coffee filter until your desired clarity is reached.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Garnish with mint sprigs.
Clarified Milk Punch With Oleo Saccharum
Don't be scared of a recipe with oleo saccharum; it's nothing more than a sweetened citrus oil you make with citrus peels and sugar. This recipe makes about eight servings. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two months.
Ingredients
- Oleo saccharum (see below)
- 2 cups dark aged rum
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¾ cup simple syrup
- 1 cup brandy
- 4 cups whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Lemon wheels for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix oleo saccharum, dark aged rum, brandy, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
- Put the warm, scalded milk in a pitcher. Add the oleo saccharum mixture and stir. The milk should start to curdle right away.
- Allow the mixture to sit for approximately 60 minutes.
- Using a fine sieve, cheesecloth, or coffee filter, filter the curdled mix into another clean container. Do not disturb the milk curds. Be patient.
- If it's not as clear as you like, filter repeatedly through the undisturbed curds or a fresh coffee filter until your desired clarity is reached.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Garnish with lemon wheels.
Basic Oleo Saccharum Recipe
A two-ingredient recipe that you can use in a variety of drinks to give them a beautiful citrus touch? Heck yeah.
Ingredients
- Zest from two lemons
- 4 ounces sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add lemon zest and sugar.
- Mix.
- Muddle citrus and sugar until the peels begin to express oils.
- Refrigerate mixture for approximately 3-24 hours.
- Strain into a resealable container, capturing as much oil as possible. Discard remaining peels.
Clarified Gin Milk Punch
Gin deserves the silky, smooth, sultry experience that the above recipes give vodka and rum. #TeamGin. Which is perfect since this recipe makes approximately four servings. Go recruit more gin lovers.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces gin
- 4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 ounces simple syrup
- 2 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 ounces orange liqueur
- 6 ounces whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Lemon slices for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, orange juice, and orange liqueur.
- Add the warm, scalded milk to a large pitcher. Add the gin mixture to the milk and stir. The milk should start to curdle.
- Allow the mixture to sit for approximately 30 to 60 minutes.
- Using a coffee filter, cheesecloth, or fine-mesh strainer, filter the curdled mix into another clean container. Be careful not to disturb the milk curds. Be patient.
- If it's not as clear as you like, filter a second time through your undisturbed curds or a coffee filter or until your desired clarity is reached.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Garnish with lemon slices.
Pineapple Clarified Milk Punch
A crystal-clear pineapple cocktail that'll sweep you off your feet? It would almost be too good to be true, but now you have this recipe. And, it's enough to serve you and seven lucky friends. Or, keep it to yourself. Store leftovers in the fridge in a sealed container for up to two months.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rum
- 4 ounces brandy
- 8 ounces pineapple juice
- 4 ounces lemon juice
- 3 ounces simple syrup
- 4 ounces whole milk, scalded
- Ice
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix rum, brandy, pineapple juice, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
- Put the warm, scalded milk in a pitcher and add the rum mixture to it. Stir. The milk should start to curdle.
- Allow the mixture to sit for approximately 90 minutes.
- Using a cheesecloth or coffee filter, filter the curdled mix into another clean container. Do not disturb the milk curds. Be patient.
- If it's not as clear as you want, filter a second time or more through the undisturbed curds or a coffee filter until you reach your desired clarity.
- Serve over fresh ice.
Clarified Piña Colada
Follow Alice as she falls into Wonderland with a creamy and rich piña colada that's as clear as the looking glass. The recipe makes approximately four servings. You can store it in the fridge for up to two months.
Ingredients
- 1½ ounces coconut rum
- 2 ounces aged rum
- 2 ounces falernum
- 4 ounces pineapple juice
- ½ ounce Demerara syrup
- 1½ ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 ounces coconut water
- 4 ounces whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Lime wheels for garnish
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add coconut rum, aged rum, falernum, pineapple juice, Demerara syrup, lime juice, and coconut water.
- Pour the warm, scalded milk into a large liquid measuring cup or another vessel that easily pours.
- Add rum mixture to the milk and stir. The milk should begin to curdle.
- Allow the mix to sit for 30-60 minutes.
- Filter the curdled mix through a cheesecloth or coffee filter into a clean container. Do not disturb the milk curds. Be patient.
- If it's not as clear as you like, filter a second time through the undisturbed curds or a coffee filter or until your desired clarity is reached.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Garnish with lime wheels.
Clarified Paloma
A crystal-clear paloma? Can it even be done? It sure can. You'll need a little bit of extra patience, as you'll want to filter this a few times. Skip the grapefruit soda if you want to emphasize the look of this cocktail, using grapefruit club soda instead. Or, use the grapefruit soda if you want to keep it a little traditional. This recipe makes approximately five servings. Leftovers will store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two months.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces silver tequila
- 8 ounces pink grapefruit juice
- 4 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 ounces agave or honey syrup
- 6 ounces whole milk, scalded
- Ice
- Grapefruit soda or grapefruit club soda to top off
- Lime wedges for garnish
Instructions
- In a large pitcher, add tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, and syrup.
- Add milk and stir. The milk should start to curdle.
- Allow the mixture to rest for approximately 6-12 hours. Put in the fridge after one hour.
- Using a cheesecloth or coffee filter, filter the curdled mix into another clean container. Be careful not to disturb the milk curds.
- Filter two more times, either through undisturbed curds or fresh coffee filters.
- Serve in rocks glasses over fresh ice.
- Top off with grapefruit soda or grapefruit club soda.
- Garnish with lime wedges.
Keys to Clarified Milk Punch
Clarified milk punch is an intentional curdling of dairy to create a cocktail that's smooth, silky, and clear. The process is essentially fat washing the cocktail using milk to give it a rounder mouthfeel, more luxurious texture, and smoother flavor. If you've never tried a clarified milk punch, you should. It's absolutely delicious. When clarifying, keep these tips in mind:
- Freshly squeezed citrus juice is always best for clarified milk punches.
- Always use whole milk.
- Scalding your milk helps with curdling, and it's easy to do. Put milk in a pan on low heat and cook, stirring, until it just begins to bubble around the edges.
- Always add other ingredients to the milk instead of adding milk to other ingredients.
- The combination of milk curds and cheesecloth make the best (and fastest) filter, resulting in the clearest punches. If you can, avoid disturbing the curds and re-use the cheesecloth/curds filter for each filtering. If you do disturb the curds, use a coffee filter for subsequent filtering.
- A pour-over coffee maker is perfect for filtering milk punches. Line the cone with cheesecloth for the most effective filtering.
- We're not kidding when we say to be patient. Depending on the type of filter you use, it can take an hour to several hours to filter your milk punch each time.
- Be warned. This stuff tastes virtually nonalcoholic, but it is strong.
There's no single approach or recipe to clarified milk punch. It's as customizable a cocktail as any other. However, one of the gifts of clarified milk punch is it's essentially a batch cocktail. So once this is ready, you can store it in a resealable container and leave it in the fridge for quite a few weeks.
Common Questions About Clarified Milk Punches
The world is your clarified oyster. It's all thanks to your warm dairy, citrus juices, and sugars that you allow to mingle for a bit, then slowly and ever so patiently filter to remove the curds and leave all the good stuff behind.
Is It Safe?
Even though you intentionally curdle milk in a clarified cocktail, it's perfectly safe. The curds happen due to the combination of the protein in the milk and the acid in the citrus juice. When you filter the punch, the sweet, silky whey remains in the cocktail and the milk protein is filtered out.
Why Clarify the Milk Punch?
We clarify milk punch for very different reasons today than when the drink first became a glassware staple. Back then, it was because it didn't require refrigeration once the drink was clarified. Perfect, since you couldn't exactly run to the corner store and grab a bag of ice in the 1700s. Long ago, it was also commonly referred to as English milk punch. Today, the clarified milk punch is a fun way to make a silky cocktail that is not only out of this world tasty but is quite sneaky in how smooth it is without ever letting on just how boozy it is. So, sip slowly and respect the clarified milk punch.
Can I Skip the Clarifying?
You sure can! If you don't want to jump through hoops to enjoy a cocktail, you can keep it easy and sip on a classic milk punch instead. Like clarified cocktails, you can enjoy a milk punch with several different liquor bases, such as bourbon, brandy, tequila, rum, and vodka. These will be creamy and opaque, much like a White Russian or Brandy Alexander. Just avoid citrus, or you'll wind up with curds.
How Long Does the Clarified Milk Punch Need to Curdle?
You can let the mixture sit, and once it finishes curdling, you can start straining. Or, you can let the mixture curdle for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or even 12 or 24 hours. It's all up to you. If you opt for the marathon time, allow the mix to curdle at room temperature for an hour, then continue to curdle in the fridge.
What Spirits Can I Use in Clarifying?
Close your eyes and imagine your liquor store. Think of those clear liquors, vodka, rum, sherry, all those. Now open your eyes, grab your keys, and buy your favorite.
Can I Make a Nonalcoholic Milk Punch?
Absolutely! Whether you include a nonalcoholic liquor or not, you can definitely enjoy a nonalcoholic clarified milk punch. All you need is whole milk and citrus, although you'll probably want a few other ingredients to make it interesting, as well.
What if My Clarified Milk Punch Is Too …?
Is it too sour for your taste? Add more simple syrup or another form of sugar or sweetener if you've already made the drink. Next time, add more simple syrup while making your clarified milk punch. If your drink is too sweet for your taste, balance it out with additional acid. If it's too strong, you can dilute your mix with water, use less spirits, or additional mixers during the process.
Can I Make a Dairy-Free Clarified Milk Punch?
Well, yes. You can use soy or coconut milk. But it requires the milk to be heated up to approximately 150°F. Remove from heat, then immediately but slowly add the citrus component so that the milk will curdle as it needs to. After that, let the curdled mixture rest on the counter for approximately an hour, then start the straining process.
What if I Hate Earl Grey Tea?
That's a harsh but valid opinion. Use green tea, black tea, white tea, or any neutral tea you like instead. Clarifying will remove some of the harsher tannins from the tea, so it may wind up being a lot smoother than you imagine.
I Still Want to Know Benjamin Franklin's Recipe!
History credits Benjamin Franklin, yes that Benjamin Franklin, with the invention of the clarified milk punch. Or, it may have been created by Mary Rockett, a housewife. Benjamin Franklin's recipe is often thought of as medicinal tasting in addition to being quite citrusy, with strong notes of lemon. Historians have figured out how it would look.
How Do I Clarify Everything?
So long as the cocktail can remain well balanced with citrus, you can clarify any drink. You may not end up with a traditional old-fashioned flavor, but if you make it an orange or orange creamsicle clarified old-fashioned, you can pull it off. Cocktails are about experimenting, and nowhere is that more evident than in a clarified cocktail.
Clarified Milk Punches: Your New Favorite Experiment
There's something awesomely rewarding about a cocktail that requires a little bit of patience and quite a bit of experimentation. Once you have your footing, of course. Once you can (semi) confidently navigate your way through a clarified milk punch recipe, there's no reason you couldn't or shouldn't expand your horizon and make it your own.
