Clarified Milk Punch Recipe

Before you start

Clarified milk punch is an old English technique that modern bars have revived. A punch of spirits, citrus, sugar, tea and spice is poured into hot or cold milk. The acid curdles the milk, and as the curds form they trap the particles, tannins and color that make a punch cloudy. Filtered through those curds, the liquid comes out clear, pale gold and remarkably smooth, with a soft, round texture from the remaining milk whey.

This batch uses brandy and Jamaican rum, black tea for structure, lemon and a light spice infusion. The two decisions that matter are adding the punch to the milk, not the other way round, which gives cleaner, larger curds, and being patient with filtering. The first cloudy liquid goes back through the curd bed, which itself becomes the filter. Because the solids are removed, the punch keeps far better than an ordinary citrus drink, though we still recommend refrigerating it and drinking it within a month.

Ingredients

• Punch200 ml (6¾ oz) brandy or cognac
• 100 ml (3⅓ oz) Jamaican rum — or another aged rum
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 wide strips lemon peel
• 150 ml (5 oz) strong black tea — brewed from 2 tea bags and cooled
• 120 ml (4 oz) fresh lemon juice — from about 4 lemons, strained
• 100 ml (3⅓ oz) rich simple syrup (2:1)
• Clarifying300 ml (10 oz) whole milk — cold

Method

1. Combine the brandy, rum, cinnamon, cloves and lemon peel in a jar. Seal and leave for 1 hour at room temperature, then remove the spices and peel.
2. Brew the tea with 160 ml of just-boiled water for 5 minutes, remove the bags and let it cool. Strong tea adds the tannin that clarification will soften.
3. Stir the tea, lemon juice and rich syrup into the spiced spirits. Taste: it should be bold, a little sharp and clearly sweet, because the milk will soften it.
4. Pour the cold milk into a large bowl. Slowly pour the punch into the milk while stirring gently once or twice. Curds will form almost at once. Do not stir again after that.
5. Leave the bowl undisturbed for 30 minutes so the curds firm up and settle.
6. Set a fine strainer lined with a coffee filter over a jug. Ladle the curds in first, then pour in the liquid. The first 100 to 200 ml will be cloudy; pour it back through until the liquid running out is clear. Leave it to drip in the fridge, about 2 hours.
7. Bottle the clear punch and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serve 100 ml over a large ice cube, or chilled and straight up, with a twist of lemon.

Tips for success

• Keep the curd bed undisturbed while filtering. Stirring or pressing pushes fine particles through and clouds the punch.
• Change filters if dripping slows to almost nothing. A clogged filter wastes time, but do not discard the curds trapped on it; they do the clarifying.
• Scale the batch up by keeping the ratio of about 2 parts punch to 1 part milk.

Substitutions

Brandy and rum

Use 300 ml of a single spirit. Bourbon gives a vanilla-rich punch; gin makes it lighter and more herbal.

Black tea

Green tea or rooibos changes the character; green adds a grassy note, rooibos a sweeter, tea-free version.

Whole milk

Low-fat milk clarifies but gives a thinner, less silky texture. Plant milks do not curdle reliably and are not recommended here.

Variations

Pineapple milk punch

Replace 60 ml of the lemon juice with 120 ml fresh pineapple juice and add 30 ml extra lemon to keep the acid high enough for curdling.

Troubleshooting

The punch stays cloudy after filtering

Pass it back through the curd bed several times, slowly. If it is still hazy, chill it overnight and decant the clear liquid off any sediment.

Curds did not form

There was not enough acid. Stir in 15 ml more lemon juice; the milk should split quickly.

The finished punch tastes flat

Milk softens acid and sweetness. Next time make the punch slightly more intense than you think it should be before clarifying.

Storage

Refrigerate the clear punch in sealed glass bottles. Many bartenders keep it much longer, but for best flavor and safety we recommend drinking it within about a month. Discard it if it smells sour or looks cloudy. Discard the curds.

Safety notes

Each 100 ml serving contains roughly 0.9 U.S. standard drinks (one standard drink is about 14 g of pure alcohol). The punch is made with milk and still contains milk proteins, so it is not suitable for anyone with a milk allergy. Serve only to adults of legal drinking age, and never drink and drive.