The Rich Tradition and Modern Present of Milk Punch
A Deep Dive into the History and Present of a Southern Holiday Classic
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Christmas is almost here and you’re hopefully close to a few days (or a week) of rest and time with loved ones, even if the holidays can be stressful. But the holidays also give us the socially-accepted chance to eat and imbibe until our hearts are content, with many of us consuming far more than we ever would otherwise. A whole turkey leg and thigh at the office Christmas party? Sure, go ahead. Two brownies for breakfast the day after? Buddy, they aren’t going to eat themselves. Eating gumbo for dinner for an entire week just because you can? Economical and delicious. These are definitely not things I’ve done recently, as I am a genteel man of refinement.
The holidays also give us the opportunity to eat and drink things we wouldn’t otherwise have for the rest of the year. For folks of age (and many not!) in the south, one such delicacy is brandy milk punch and its many variations. I originally went into this issue thinking I’d just write a little bit about a few different cocktails, but there’s a lot of meat on the bone for milk punch, more than I ever thought there would be. So today I’m going to try giving a brief history of a classic that has become a modern experimental playground for mixologists everywhere. As always, a note on sources will be at the end of the issue.
Four Centuries in a Glass
At its very basic form, milk punch consists of a few things: milk (duh), a spirit or spirits of some sort (brandy, bourbon, rum, etc.), and a sweetener of some sort. Depending on the desired appearance of the drink, needed quantity, and shelf-stability, one may add fruit juice to curdle the milk and then strain the resulting solids, yielding clarified milk punch.
Supposedly some restaurants in New Orleans lay claim to originating the beverage, but the resources I’ve parsed for this issue place its origins around 17th and 18th centuries, with mixologist and author David Wondrich stating in his 2007 book Imbibe! that the original version of the drink is mythically attributed to English Jill of all trades Aphra Behn. I doubt we’ll ever know the true origin, but regardless, the first mention of the drink in a printed work occurred in 1688, when William Sacheverrell mentioned it when recounting his travels to the Scottish isle of Iona. Wondrich further gives Behn the credit, as she seemed rather devoted to milk punch evangelization.
Furthermore, a printed recipe for the drink was found in a cookbook compiled by a housewife named Mary Rockett in 1711, describing a version of the cocktail made using lemon juice. Benjamin Franklin described milk punch and shared a recipe when writing a letter to his friend James Bowdoin in 1763. So regardless, it’s been around for a while. And it’s famous too! Queen Victoria so enjoyed a version bottled by Nathaniel Whilsson & Co. that she named the company “Purveyors of Milk Punch to Her Majesty.”
Milk punch made with brandy or bourbon is plentiful around the South, especially in New Orleans. In New Orleans specifically, the early spirit of choice was brandy, as the wine derivative was most palatable to the gaggle of wine-loving colonists who populated the nascent city. So it would appear that the two both brandy and milk punch go way back for the Crescent City, as well as for the entire world.
A Simple Recipe for Beginner Bartenders
Full disclosure: I have only basic mixology skills. Therefore, the recipe for today is an extremely simplified, but still delicious, take on milk punch. The only spirit used in it is brandy. It does not contain fruit juice or vanilla extract, just a little bit of confectioner’s sugar. I didn’t even think about trying to make a clarified milk punch for this go-round, just because I want to take my time to make sure I do it right. This one is simple and easy to make for a single serving or two. This recipe appears in Lift Your Spirits: a Celebratory History of Cocktail Culture in New Orleans.
Ingredients
2 oz. brandy
1 cup whole milk
1-3 tsp. confectioners’ sugar (add to taste)
Whole nutmeg in a grinder or ground nutmeg to garnish
Method
Mix all ingredients except nutmeg in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, cover, and shake it with EXTREME POWER for a minute or two, until it froths up. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, a Tervis tumbler works well in a pinch. If you don’t have a tumbler, try two interlocking cups.
Strain into a short glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with nutmeg. If you don’t have crushed ice, you can make some in a food processor, or by putting some ice in a towel and hitting the heck out of it with a hammer.
If you don’t want to use brandy, feel free to substitute bourbon. Regardless, the result is delicious and makes roughly two drinks. Eventually, I plan on trying to make a bold attempt at a clarified version, which I will chronicle in a future issue. But for a beginner bartender like myself and for a quick drink, it’s hard to beat this preparation. Give it a try yourself and see how you like it!
A Clear and Present Cocktail
You can find several versions of milk punch around the world today. Some curdle the milk and strain the solids, others leave the milk intact as in the recipe today. Clarified milk punch, which appears to be the historically-preferred preparation in England (as it’s called English Milk Punch), is seeing its own kind of renaissance in bars worldwide. And man, it is a cool thing.
And the modern versions do more with the drink than just the basic recipe as described earlier in the issue. In an article written by Cara Strickland over Tales of the Cocktail in 2016, Eamon Rockey (then of the restaurant Betony in Manhattan), described the drink as a blank canvas:
“Milk punch, in its most basic form, is warm milk that is broken with high acid citrus juice and then complemented by other flavors like fresh pineapple or earl grey tea, bourbon, brandy, gin or champagne,” says Rockey. “You need that base of milk that's intended to be broken with fresh citrus juice and then whatever the heck else you want to throw in there. You clarify it all together and it comes out looking like water, or darn near water. It’s just a lot of fun.”
Rockey further elaborates over at VinePair:
Part of the appeal is versatility. Milk punch can be made from almost any spirit, combined with nearly any juice, tea, or spice. As long as curdled milk is used to clarify the mixture, milk punch is the result. This allows for nearly infinite flavor variations and recipe riffs for the adventurous bartender to explore.
The results are pretty amazing. You can make the first known recipe of milk punch scribbled in Mary Rockett’s cookbook, or you can make a black tea-port milk punch. Piña Colada milk punch? Check. A version using Aperol and gin? Sure man. Eamon Rockey is staking his future on the drink, creating a company that releases a bottled version of it (the clarified version is famously shelf-stable) that can save career and amateur bartenders alike the trouble of clarifying the drink.
How long will the modern renaissance of clarified milk punch last? There’s truly no telling. Everything is cyclical, drinks come into and fall out of fashion with regularity, but milk punch has managed to last for nearly four centuries as it is. In one way or another, it’ll likely be here for a very long time.
Thank you for reading the Gulf Coastal. I’ll be taking a break next week for Christmas. If you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, feel free to send them to me at rauzachary@gmail.com. Research sources from today’s issue are below. And if you like the newsletter please tell anyone you can, any way you can. You can even share using the button below. Have a good weekend!
Note on sources:
America’s Test Kitchen, Classic Cocktail Revived: America’s Test Kitchen on Milk Punch, The Splendid Table
Ned Hemard, Milk With a Punch, New Orleans Bar Association
Eamon Rockey, Bartenders Are Obsessed With Milk Punch Because It’s Delicious and a Little Bit Dangerous, VinePair
Cara Strickland, The Many Modern Faces of Milk Punch, Tales of the Cocktail
Elizabeth M. Williams & Christ McMillan, Lift Your Spirits: a Celebratory History of Cocktail Culture in New Orleans
David Wondrich, Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar
David Wondrich, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl