How to Make the Best Holiday Cocktail

There are things called polyphenols in some of our food and drinks which are said to have amazing health benefits. For instance, red wine is considered healthy because of a polyphenol called tannin. This specific polyphenol is also the reason why you sometimes get dry mouth after drinking red wine; your saliva binds with tannins to get rid of the astringency, until you run out of saliva. This is when your mouth becomes dry mouth city.

Milk is a substitute for saliva because the casein protein in milk binds with tannins instead, leaving the saliva in your mouth. This is why many people pour whole milk into tea; because the astringent flavors in tea bind with the casein protein in milk, and the tea becomes pleasantly smooth.

This is actually the secret to making a great cocktail. You should wash the cocktail with milk (or agar-agar for the vegans out there), to get a smoother cocktail.

Milk-Wash Process (use homogenized whole milk)

On average, whole milk from a cow is 87% water, 5% lactose (or milk sugar), 4% fat, 4% protein (whey and casein), and 1% minerals (like potassium and calcium). This quartet of sugar, fat, protein, and water is the reason why milk-washed alcohol taste so good:

• The sugar naturally sweetens the bourbon
• The fat gives the smooth mouthfeel
• The water reduces the alcohol content
• The protein removes astringent tannins

The best thing about milk-washing is how easy it is. There are only three rule you need to remember when it comes to milk-washing cocktails.

1. Use whole homogenized milk straight from the refrigerator. Heat is not required.
2. Milk should be 20% of the total cocktail volume. So a 100 gram cocktail should be mixed with 20 grams of milk.
3. Slowly pour the cocktail into the milk, not the other way around. If you pour the milk into the cocktail it will automatically curdle without mixing with all the cocktail.

How to make a milk-washed cocktail (or bourbon)

Equipment needed:
Measuring scale
Whole milk
Premixed cocktail of your choice
Cheese cloth
Mason jar

The same process applies for both cocktails as well as brown spirits like bourbon or rum.

1. Mix your cocktail first and weigh it on a scale to get the total weight in grams. Then measure out 20% of the weight in milk into a clear glass container.
2. Slowly pour the cocktail into the milk. Let sit for 3 minutes, and then gently stir to make sure all the milk and cocktail completely mixes. Now let it sit for 3 hours.
3. Pour the entire cocktail through a cheese cloth (curds and all) and strain until clear. Leave the curds as you strain, because they will act as another filter to catch any particles the cheese filter can’t.
4. Refrigerate overnight because there are still some small milk particles that will settle to the bottom. Then carefully pour the clean liquid into final glass container, leaving the milk particles in the old glass.

Agar-agar clarification (vegan friendly)

Agar-agar is another way to capture tannins through a gelatin filtration method. Similar to the milk-wash, the gelatin captures and filters the tannins, leaving you with a smooth cocktail.

First prepare an ice bath by putting some ice cubes in cold water. You’ll use this to chill the agar-agar mixture.

Use a 4:1 ratio of cocktail to water. Then multiply the total weight (in grams) of the cocktail and water combined, by .002 to come up with the amount of agar-agar you need. For 500 grams, you’d need 400 grams of cocktail, 100 grams of water and 1 gram of agar-agar. The agar-agar may not seem like a lot, but it is all you need!

Vigorously whisk the agar-agar in the room temperature water first, and then bring to a boil and let it bubble away for about 2–3 minutes on medium-high. This essentially wakes up the agar-agar. When the water starts to look viscous like corn syrup and you see the bubbles start to rise slowly, then take it off the heat.

Slowly pour the cocktail into the agar-agar and whisk to evenly mix your cocktail and agar-agar. By pouring the cocktail into the agar-agar, you are evenly tempering the molecules in the agar-agar.

Set mixture in the water bath and wait for it to set. It will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes before you see that jiggly Jello look. Just trust the process and leave it alone.

Once the agar-agar has settled like Jello, take a whisk and break up the mold into cheese curd size lumps. Use a cheese cloth to filter the gelatin curds. You can also gently massage and twist the cheese cloth to increase your cocktail yield.

I decided to do a blind taste-test using bourbon to make sure that there was an actual difference between the milk-washed, agar-agar and normal. So I made a milk-washed bourbon, agar-agar bourbon, and the bourbon straight. Then I put on a blindfold and my girlfriend gave me 3 random samples to taste.

I got 3/3, but just barely. The milk-washed was slightly sweeter and brighter than the agar-agar washed. They both had a luscious mouthfeel. Both also tasted better than the bourbon itself, which tasted thin and a bit harsh. Absolutely validated that milk-washed and agar-agar results in a different and in my opinion, better cocktail than normal.

So if you are looking to change up your holiday cocktail, try washing your cocktails first for a fun way to reinvent a familiar drink for guests. Choose a milk wash if you know that all your guests are good with drinking milk. Choose agar-agar if you have guests who may be lactose intolerance or vegan.

In case you are looking for some inspiration, below is one of my favorite cocktails that is sure to be a hit at your next holiday party. The Clearance Clarence from Lockbox In Lexington, Kentucky and a spin on the classic whiskey sour.

Clearance, Clarence Cocktail
2 oz milk clarified bourbon
1/2 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz vanilla syrup
orange peel expressed
aromatic bitters

Combine all ingredients. Shake well with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Express orange peel over the cocktail. Garnish with aromatic bitters.

Additional Resources

Follow me on Medium or instagram to get my latest articles
Learn more about the history of milk-washed cocktails
Learn more about the history of bourbon
Liquid Intelligence: For those of you who want to geek out about all things liquid.

The Key to Crystal-Clear Cocktails? Milk. (Really.)