Clarified Cocktails

What’s are they?

What is a clarified cocktail?

The word clarify means to make less confusing and more clearly understand. In the context of cooking, clarified butter is the result of separating out the water from the milk solids. The concept of a clarified cocktail is sort of a combination of these two things, making things clear and separating solids from liquid. This is also known as milk-washing because we are literally washing out the unwanted parts to “clean” our cocktail.

Personally, I like to clarify cocktails that are dark in color, think Paper Planes and Jungle Birds, but really you can clarify any cocktail you want. When you clarify a cocktail, you aren’t just changing the color, but also the flavor.

Let’s start with the basics, how to clarify a cocktail.

This is a pretty simple process, start by making your preferred cocktail. I’m going to use a Paper Plane as an example. (I also have a video on my Instagram and TikTok of a Clarified Paper Plane for you to reference.) Since the clarification process takes a while, I like to double or triple the recipe, that way I can enjoy several cocktails over time and not have to wait 24 hours each time I want a single drink.  

A Paper Plane is an equal parts cocktail consisting of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino (Montenegro is a good alternative) and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Normally a Paper Planes is shaken in a tin with ice to chill the mixture and add some dilution. Instead of shaking, we are going to add a small amount of water for dilution. (No, this doesn’t water down the cocktail or change the flavor. Yes, all cocktails have dilution.) Now comes the scary part…milk. I’ve used both 2% dairy milk and planted based oat milk and gotten the same results, so use whatever milk you have on hand. When you add the milk, it is going to look kind of gross and your first instinct is going to be to stir the mixture to combine it, don’t do it! Seal your container and place the mixture in the fridge for at least 4 hours. I usually wait 24 hours.

While your mixture is resting in the fridge the milk is curdling as it reacts to the alcohol and the citrus juice. As the milk solidifies it removes impurities and imperfections, along with the color from the mixture. After at least 4 hours you can begin to strain the mixture. Be prepared this part takes FOREVER! If you are making a large batch of clarified cocktails, I recommend have several strain vessels. If you have a pour over coffee vessel, use that along with a coffee filter or cheese cloth in a mesh sieve over a bowl. If you feel a bit like a mad scientist or colonial woman making butter, you are doing it right.

You only want to pour a small amount of your mixture in at a time, and you will need to change the filter a few times. As the mixture strains through you will see the milk solids gather in the filer and the liquid below should be a yellowish color and somewhat clearer. Don’t be discouraged if your mixture isn’t completely clear after the first strain, that is normal. Just strain again, and possibly a third time if you like. Eventually you will not see any stray bits in your filter and the mixture should be a soft yellow color and you should be able to see completely through it.

Before we taste, just know that your cocktail will not taste like milk. It won’t taste like curdled or spoiled milk either. Instead, what you will be left with is a delicious cocktail with a vibrant more rounded flavor. The milk removed the harsh alcohol bite that can often overpower the flavors of the cocktail. Instead the flavors have now been enhances sad can be fully appreciated and tasted. But look out, this also makes the cocktail significantly easier to drink and that buzz may sneak up on you.  

Now, a couple questions that often get asked with clarified cocktails:

1.     Are clarified cocktails safe for people with lactose intolerance to drink?

• Yes, all the milk is removed from the mixture, making clarified cocktails safe to drink if you are lactose intolerant. Also, you can use a planted based milk if you are still concerned. I would recommend a creamy oat milk; I feel like the creamier consistently helps with separating the milk solids. (But I don’t know if that is real or just what I have convinced myself.)

2.     Are there other ways to clarify cocktails?

• Yes, there are three other common methods to clarify cocktails.

  • Gravity straining – pouring the cocktail through multiple strainers getting finer and finer each pass. This method takes the longest amount of time.

  • Agar or Gelatine Clarification – similar to milk washing agar/gelatine trap the impurities and can be removed once solidified. This is less time consuming than milk washing and agar is derived from seaweed, so it is a vegan option.

  • Centrifugation – most expensive option. A centrifuge spins the cocktail at a very high-speed pushing the impurities to the outside resulting in a crystal-clear cocktail.

3.     Is a clarified cocktail worth making?

• In my opinion yes, for a few reasons.

  • Aesthetics - they look really cool. Imagine serving a pitcher of Paper Planes and instead of an opaque dark orangey brown colored cocktail to you guest you present them with a clear pale-yellow beverage. Mind blown!

  • Taste – I can’t express enough how much the flavor changes. The entire beverage is softer and rounder but also the flavors are enhanced in the most delicious and vibrant way.

  • Convenience – Yes, on the front end there is a bit of work, all the straining is quite time consuming. However, the milk-washing process makes the cocktail shelf stable, meaning you can store it in the fridge for several weeks or freezer for a couple months.

At the end of the day I’m a fan of clarified cocktails and I think they are worth the time and effort they take. But what do you think? Now that you know how to clarify cocktails and what that means, are you going to try your hand a cocktail clarification?