How to Make a Clarified Vodka Drink

When considering a refreshing summer beverage, the mind does not immediately alight upon milk. Not to say that milk doesn’t have a summer purpose—churned, say, into ice cream, or blended into a milkshake—but to most people, these frozen treats are the beginning and end of the list. To this, we humbly suggest an addition, and have brought, by way of persuasion, proof of concept: the Strawberry Milk Punch.

If you frequent cocktail bars you have likely already encountered milk punches, but to the rest, a small primer: A clarified (or “English”) milk punch is when you take a sour style cocktail, and use milk and a bit of chemistry to make it perfectly transparent. When you combine the liquids, the acid in the cocktail causes the milk to “break” and casein curds to form; these curds can be filtered out, and if you do so, you find that they take with them a bit of color, a bit of flavor, and almost all of the pectin, pulp and milkfat, leaving you a beautifully transparent cocktail. In this way, milk is used as a tool as much as it is an ingredient—to have one, you wouldn’t know milk had ever touched it but for a silkiness to the texture and its signature visual clarity. It’s a neat trick.

Like all neat tricks, it can and has been taken too far. Cocktail-focused publications have been exasperatedly decrying the overuse of these techniques for at least five years now, which is a uniquely major-market gripe and a little funny because even in big cities, most non-industry people have never heard of it. Nonetheless, the fact remains that you can milk-clarify almost anything—and you can use, as a clarifying agent, more “milks” than you’d think, like coconut milk or almond milk or kefir—so when doing so, it helps to have a purpose.

In the case of the Strawberry Milk Punch, it is inspired by the legendary combination of strawberries and cream. The cocktail is fresh juicy summer strawberries, paired with vodka, gin, lemon, coriander, and two liqueurs, Licor 43, for a deepening vanilla element, and Aperol, for rhubarb and orange and a touch of texture. To clarify, it calls for a combination of whole milk (which is standard) and buttermilk (which is very much not). The buttermilk is key; it contributes a tart round acidity that defines the finish and gives it the lactic tang of yogurt, a flavor that, if you want to maintain light summer brightness, is unattainable any other way. Together, the drink is the whole package—fresh and bright, deep, beautiful, new, and, as a bonus, a fully composed, perfectly balanced cocktail, ready to be made in batches large or small and deployed at a moment’s notice.

The result is fresh, bright and unmistakably summery—a milk punch that tastes very little like milk, but could not exist without it.

Strawberry Milk Punch

Single drink:

Smash up strawberries, and add them to the vodka and gin. Let sit 24 hours if you can—it’s ok if you can’t, just smash them a little more thoroughly. Add Licor 43, Aperol, lemon, and simple, and stir to combine.

In a separate container, combine buttermilk and whole milk, then pour the composed cocktail into the milk. Stir gently to encourage all the milk to break. After 2 to 10 minutes, strain through a coffee filter or a few layers of cheese cloth—this will take some time, if you can find room to do it in the fridge, all the better, but it’s not strictly necessary. 

Once filtered, add the coriander; just add 1 tsp cracked coriander seeds to the finished cocktail, and let infuse for about 15 ti 30 minutes before straining out.

To serve: Add 3 to 3.5 oz. to a rocks glass over a big piece of ice, stir for 10 to 20 seconds, and garnish with a lemon peel.

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS

Process: Much has been written about how to make milk punches, which I’ll briefly summarize here:

Vodka: A perfect use for vodka. This drink is about the strawberries, cream, liqueurs, and spices, not the base spirit. If you used all gin, it would be too much gin. Vodka is here to put room between the flavors, and allow the produce to shine. Use whatever vodka you like.

See Also

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Gin: It does, however, need a little texture in the mid-palate, which is what the gin is doing here (same with the coriander, for that matter). Here you want a soft, approachable gin, one without too intense a juniper flavor—the Suntory Roku works perfectly, as would something soft and heathery like Botanist.

Coriander: This is an annoying step, I understand, but I miss it when it’s not there—it’s too easy to drink otherwise, a little featureless in the mid-palate. If you want to use coriander bitters, I suspect that would work. If doing these in big batches, like I do at the bar, I make coriander-infused vodka (20 g smashed/cracked coriander seeds into 16 oz. vodka, let sit 24 hours) and add it 0.2 oz. per drink. I’m sure there are other ingredients that would play a similar purpose, but I haven’t found any that work as well—it doesn’t taste strongly of coriander, it’s just a little texture. 

Garnish: Needs the lemon peel. Absolutely needs it. For a little fun, taste it first without, then add the oils from a lemon peel and taste again. Completely changes the drink.