Which brings us to Faith and Flower’s milk punch.  This award winning restaurant in Los Angeles is home to Michael Lay, their “Chief of Booze”, a title anyone could respect.  He has delved deep into the history books (specifically “the professor” Jerry Thomas’ How to Mix Drinks, from 1862) to remaster the classic “clarified milk punch” for a modern take on the old classic.  Clarified milk punch is a clear drink, which can look like water or wine, yet is made with milk!  Just change the name and it would fool anyone.  Michael Lay’s version is one complicated cocktail, which incidentally won Esquire’s “cocktail of the year” last year, so of course I had to make it.  It takes three days to complete, mostly due to the length of time needed to allow the flavors to meld initially, and then for the milk solids to settle out at the end.  Intrigued?  Typically I like a cocktail with a single bottle of base spirit, such as a nice gin, rum or bourbon.  In this case I had no less than seven (!) bottles of booze lined up ready to contribute to this masterful concoction.  It’s not as many parts as in the woodwink box, but not bad.  The fumes alone could make you drunk.  

No less than seven base spirits combine together in this boozy bomb

Keep in mind that this is meant to be a punch, served for a party.  I cut the proportions dramatically which works just as well.  The alcohol steeps in a mixture of fresh pineapple, lemon peels and green tea overnight.  The real fun begins on the second day, when you add boiling milk to the rum, cognac and bourbon mixture and watch it curdle … did I just ruin all that fine booze?  All part of the plan, all part of the plan.  After straining the milk solids away, and letting the smallest particles settle overnight, you are left with a pale yellow, clear potion.  Put it in a wine glass and you might think you are about to sip a lovely chardonnay.  But this potion packs a punch, pun intended, and has been described as a “silky smooth booze bomb”, which really sums it up nicely.  The flavors are incredible, rich, sweet, tropical, balanced and alluring, with an undertone of velvety milky-ness which lends a truly surprising element to this crystal clear drink.  This “milk punch” really hoodwinks you, but you forgive it as you reach for another.

A refined pair of puzzling beauties

For the recipe to Michael Lay's clarified milk punch:

http://la.eater.com/2014/10/21/7029101/english-milk-punch-michael-lay-faith-flower-downtown-how-to