Milk Punch Clarified Cosmopolitan and Carbonated Pre-Batch
Step by step guide how to make an advanced milk punch clarified and carbonated cosmopolitan cocktail at home. 5 advanced bartending techniques - 1 cocktail.
Making cocktails at home is great. However, there tends to be a stigma around them being “simple”. That home cocktails are always somewhat basic. Many of us have the idea that - yes, you can make delicious cocktails at home. But for them to be unique or advanced you have to go to a highly reputable bar.
I’m here to tell you that is not the case. Many of the techniques used in these cocktail forward bars can be done from the comfort of your own home, and many of the equipment used to craft these cocktails are quite cheap and easily accessible.
Sure, you hear about bars that use things like steam distillation and rotary evaporators. Equipment that can cost up to £3-5k. But the majority of these delicious and “advanced” cocktails that not just the common bartender but a true “mixologist” come up with, are actually created at home then brought to the bar scene.
Today we will go over a Smartblend cocktail that uses two main distinct “advanced” techniques or rather 5 techniques that you can make at home. I will share with you how I came about making this cocktail and you can make and try it no matter the experience.
And we will do that using the well known, sex and the city popularised, once at the heart of sophisticated drink cocktail that is the Cosmopolitan.
Basic Cosmopolitan Cocktail Recipe
Before trying out this Cosmopolitan recipe it’s best to make yourself familiar with the classic Cosmo recipe. Recently, given the news of the return of Sex and the city I have shared my basic cosmopolitan recipe here on Smartblend. So check that out You will need the majority of the ingredients for this advanced version so you might as well try the basic one first!
Pre-batched recipe
One of the beauties of this recipe is that it's pre-batched. The thing with these longer or more advanced cocktail recipes that I find puts people off is the time it takes to make them. Take this one for example. From start to finish we are talking about almost 8 hours (don’t worry, that's made up of waiting time).
If you were to do all that for one cocktail that’s a little bit off putting. Who’re we kidding? It’s a lot off putting!
So batching up a few of these cocktails works wonders. It means you put all the work in one time, then you have a flow of advanced cocktails already made and bottled. Result!
And don’t worry about your pre-batch drinks going off. The majority of cocktails are at a high enough ABV to preserve your cocktails for weeks, even years. The ingredient that usually spoils your pre-batched beauty is the fresh juice. To which in this cocktail, the alcohol far out ways.
Then there's citric acid. Citric acid is something we will be using in this cocktail as a replacement for lime juice. Not only does this re-create the flavour of lime juice without the colour. Citric acid is also a preservative (don’t be afraid of preservatives. There not as bad as you mums hippy friend told you they where)
So how long will my pre-batched cocktail last?
Considering the high ABV within this drink and the use of citric acid and sugar solution. This cocktail will last years. And keeping in mind we will be batching 8 means you’re most likely going to polish the cocktail of being it ever reaches that best by date. That is unless you are serving one cocktail ever 5 years.
By all means double or triple up the below recipe and bottle it up in dark tinted bottles to protect it from sunlight and you could be drinking these all year long.
And that’s your first at home advanced lesson - Preservation.
Clarified Cosmopolitan
As for achieving the clarified cosmopolitan, we’ll be using the tried and tested milk punch process. In case you’re new to milk punches; it’s the process of adding milk to a citrusy cocktail in the hope that the milk curdles. Those curdles will later be strained leaving a velvety smooth clarified drink leftover.
So just to be clear (made the pun) yes, we will be adding milk. But no, it will not make this a milky drink as we will later strain that milk. You can learn more about milk punches with this in depth guide.
For now, what is important to note is that you’ll need some milk on hand for us to get a clarified cosmopolitan.
Clarified Cosmopolitan Video Recipe
Milk Punch Clarified and Carbonated Cosmopolitan step by step recipe
Makes 8 cocktails
Ingredients
320ml Vodka
200ml Cointreau
12 grams Citric acid
60 grams White sugar
120ml Cranberry juice
348ml Water
150ml Whole milk
Equipment
Soda siphon
2 cO2 cartridges
Coffee filters
2 jugs
Small Saucepan
Strainer
Step by step method
Step one - Making your Citric acid and sugar solution
In a saucepan mix 120ml of your water with the white sugar. Bring to a slow boil whilst stirring constantly till the sugar has dissolved and the water has gone clear.
Once the sugar has dissolved take off the heat and stir in the citric acid. Keep stirring until the citric acid has dissolved.
Leave to cool
Top tip: You may find your citric acid looks to be dissolved but once you let it sit you find it's all sunk to the bottom. So make sure you stir - stop - let the mix settle - then restrain
Step two - Milk punch guide
In one of your jugs mix together the vodka, Cointreau, citric acid and sugar solution and cranberry juice. Give everything a good stir till combined.
In the now empty saucepan you have just used, slowly heat up the milk till its warm. Not hot, not boiling, just lukewarm. You can also do this by sticking it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
Slowly pour your warmed milk into the combined punch.
The milk should now be curdled, making your punch look, well, disgusting. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to curdle. If it doesn’t curdle, you probably haven’t added enough citric acid in your solution.
Stick the jug in the fridge and allow it to sit curdling for 1-5 hours. Go watch both sex and the city films or something to kill the time.
Next, use your strainer to strain your mix into another jug. Wash your first jug then use two coffee filters layered on top of each other to strain the mix once more. This will take a good couple of hours. The mixture should strain out one single drop at time. Don’t force the strainer, give it the time for gravity to do the work.
Your punch should now have gone from a cloudy pinkish/red colour to almost completely clear with perhaps a slight pink tint but clarified nevertheless. If it hasn’t been clarified to your liking or you think you can do better then run it through a coffee filter once more.
Now add what water you have left. This should be 228ml. Which will dilute your entire punch by 30% - Optimal dilution for this cocktail
Once your water has been added it will lengthen the drink making it even more clarified, result!
Still unclear on milk punches? get it? “unclear?” I’ve done a full guide on this technique alone. Check that out here.
Milk punch prior to filtering
Milk punch clarifying
Step three - Carbonation
Pour your now clarified milk punch cosmopolitan into a soda siphon like the one pictured below. This is the one I recommend. disclaimer, that’s a affiliate link, so if you purchase it I earn a small commission at no extra cost to yourself. Its a bloody good soda siphon so win win I say. Tighten the lid and let it get cold in the fridge, make sure you leave it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before carbonating. The colder it is, the better the carbonation.
Once it’s cold add your first co2 cartridge and charge the mix. Then give it a shake and let it settle for 2 minutes before repeating the process with the second co2 cartridge.
Give a final shake then pop back in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until the next day. I prefer and recommend just leaving it in the fridge for a day.
Release the cocktail into a bottle and you’re done. Serve it up 125ml at a time over a big block of ice for a beautiful, velvety, clarified and bubbly sipper.
Full Clarified Cosmopolitan Recipe
Carbonated and Clarified Cosmopolitan Milk Punch
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a saucepan mix 120ml of your water with the white sugar. Bring to a slow boil whilst stirring constantly till the sugar has dissolved and the water has gone clear.
- Once the sugar has dissolved take off the heat and stir in the citric acid. Keep stirring until the citric acid has dissolved. Leave to cool.
- Now for the Milk Punch: In one of your jugs mix together the vodka, Cointreau, citric acid and sugar solution and cranberry juice. Give everything a good stir till combined. In the now empty saucepan you have just used, slowly heat up the milk till its warm. Not hot, not boiling, just lukewarm. You can also do this by sticking it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
- Slowly pour your warmed milk into the combined punch. The milk should now be curdled, making your punch look, well, disgusting. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to curdle. If it doesn’t curdle, you probably haven’t added enough citric acid in your solution. Stick the jug in the fridge and allow it to sit curdling for 1-5 hours. Go watch both sex and the city films or something to kill the time.
- Next, use your strainer to strain your mix into another jug. Wash your first jug then use two coffee filters layered on top of each other to strain the mix once more. This will take a good couple of hours. The mixture should strain out one single drop at time. Don’t force the strainer, give it the time for gravity to do the work.
- Your punch should now have gone from a cloudy pinkish/red colour to almost completely clear with perhaps a slight pink tint but clarified nevertheless. If it hasn’t been clarified to your liking or you think you can do better then run it through a coffee filter once more.
- Now add what water you have left. This should be 228ml. Which will dilute your entire punch by 30% - Optimal dilution for this cocktail Once your water has been added it will lengthen the drink making it even more clarified, result!
- Now for the carbonation: Pour your now clarified milk punch cosmopolitan into a soda siphon. Tighten the lid and let the whole thing get cold in the fridge, make sure you leave it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before carbonating. The colder it is, the better the carbonation.
- Once it’s cold add your first co2 cartridge and charge the mix. Then give it a shake and let it settle for 2 minutes before repeating the process with the second co2 cartridge. Give a final shake then pop back in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until the next day. I prefer and recommend just leaving it in the fridge for a day.
- Release the cocktail into a bottle and you’re done. Serve it up 125ml at a time over a big block of ice for a beautiful, velvety, clarified and bubbly sipper.
Notes
For photos and step by step notes scroll up. Below you will find my recommended equipment to help with this recipe.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
146.09Fat
0.66 gSat. Fat
0.36 gCarbs
10.33 gFiber
0.02 gNet carbs
10.31 gSugar
10.36 gProtein
0.69 gSodium
10.32 mgCholesterol
2.32 mgThe nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
