Bourbon and Milk

[Fay Jai]

Started out as a joke on the PNW section, but a friend says that this is a real drink....real gross that is. Apparently, when the milk hits the bourbon, it curdles, and turns into a rather chunky drink.

Is this true, or is he pulling my leg?

Thanks.

[J_Ozzy]

Oh yes, it's a real drink, although not really a legitimate choice if you respect yourself.

The "cement mixer" seems to encompass any drink that curdles in one's mouth.

The local (college) variation I'm familiar with involves Bailey's and lemon juice.

[jbewley]

While I definitely believe Bailey's and lemon juice would equal a curdled, disgusting mess, I have my doubts about bourbon and milk. There are actually quite a few "Hey, let's watch Bailey's curdle, then shoot it!" types of recipes. The Brain Hemmorage is another example (bailey's + peach schnapps + grenadine).

Milk punches, typically with rum or other spirits mixed with milk and spices, were a fairly regular staple of American drinking through the 18th and 19th centuries. I've made milk punches with dark rums, and nothing curdled.. and I can't see why there's any difference with bourbon (i.e. additional impurities from oak barrel aging shouldn't affect the milk). Bourbon isn't a strange thing to put in eggnog. :)

So yes, I believe the Cement Mixer exists (usually it's Bailey's irish cream + lime juice when I've seen it), but I think bourbon and milk would just get you a fairly simple milk punch.

The weird part is that milk punches often taste much better than you expect. CocktailDB lists seven recipes containing milk and bourbon.

Now using chocolate milk in cocktails. That might get you in trouble. Anyone for a chocolate milk and Scotch?

[Mayhaw Man]

Milk Punches are still a main part of the cocktail repetoire of the American South. Typically, at something like a wedding brunch, or a nice party before a fall football game, you will see three things (along with the usual bar) -mimosas, bloody marys, and milk punches. Here they are made primarily with Bourbon, although some people prefer the more traditional brandy.

Many brides, my wife included, here receive monagrammed silver beakers as wedding gifts. A frosty silver beaker full of decent bourbon, nutmeg, and milk is a fine thing to behold. It looks as good as it tastes.

[VeryApe77]

As a pretentious 16-year old, I went through a brief period of drinking whiskey (not bourbon, I should add, because my mum didn't have any, although at the time I didn't know the difference anyway) and milk, because a few characters in some Raymond Carver stories drank it

Sad but true.

It was pretty nice actually and there was certainly no curdling or chunkiness.

[Fay Jai]

As I suspected, my friend was apparently pulling my leg, or, doesn't know.

I'd never heard of the Bailey's and lemon variant...yuck.

Thanks for the help. Some of us eG'rs in Seattle are heading to a truly scary dive on Monday for lunch, I'll order a Bourbon and Milk, (which I will henceforth call a White Redneck) and report back...

[fatdeko]

But for a down right perfectly awful Cement Mixer, you need Bailey's and ROSES lime juice. (Rose's is certainly no substitue for Fresh Lime, but that sword cuts both ways: For some thing's, Fresh just ain't got what Rose's got)

Bourbon won't curdle milk, but the acidity of citrus juice will really mess with Bailey's. They use a secret proprietary method to keep the cream and spirit homogenized and citrus will really play with that. Moreover, there's something about the viscosity of Rose's vs. fresh that really makes the cement mixer a textural.... sensation.

Myers

[Mayhaw Man]

As I suspected, my friend was apparently pulling my leg, or, doesn't know.

I'd never heard of the Bailey's and lemon variant...yuck.

Thanks for the help. Some of us eG'rs in Seattle are heading to a truly scary dive on Monday for lunch, I'll order a Bourbon and Milk, (which I will henceforth call a White Redneck) and report back...

←

White Redneck here (although a very genteel and well raised one, just ask my Mama )

This is a pretty good version of the recipe, but most of the time for parties, people make them in pitchers (silver water pitchers, of course) and shake them to order, as they lend themselves pretty well to that. They are damn tasty. Milk and bourbon actually go pretty well together.

Also, for you blender drink fans, a frozen milk punch is pretty great on a hot late afternoon when relaxing on the veranda is called for (or the fire escape, or whatever). Just add extra bourbon and a bit of extra nutmeg as it will kind of get lost in the ice if you don't. If you are going all the way, like some on you cocktail nuts do, you can make the ice for blending out of milk.

Seersucker and white bucks not required (and never after Labor Day or before Easter-that would be the height of tackiness-people would accuse you of being from Tackistan), although a lovely, fair flower of the South to share the drink with is always a nice touch.

[slkinsey]

Milk punch (milk, bourbon and sugar over ice with nutmeg) was once a very well known drink. For example, in Act I of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (written and set in 1904) Sharpless offers Pinkerton a drink by asking, "milk-punch o wisky?" Puccini would never have used this text were milk punch not something with which his audiences would have been familiar.

[Nathan P.]

Don't forget the all important bartender participation in this drink. For a 'good' version the bartender must jump up on to the bar and shake the patrons head while the drink sloshes around and coats the victims mouth for a true cement mixer experience. At least that is what I saw in Boston in my collegiate days of the early 90's.

Nathan

[Fay Jai]

I gotta say, I'm lovin this thread, I am actually starting to get rather excited to have this drink!

[lia]

We made Brains in college in the mid 80's: shot glass almost filled with SCHNAPPS. then a bit of the Irish Cream. It really did seize up and look just like a little brain floating there. The longer you let it sit, the more it....set. bleah.

[Mabelline]

fai jai, if you are going to a true sleeze dive, they'd probably know what you're talking about if you ask for a Whore's Milkshake (or Hooker's Milkshake, to be more polite). Not sure about Seattle, but that's what you would ask for in a Texas dive.

[slkinsey]

I don't get why anyone would want to drink one of these curdled drinks. A dare? They sound like horrible college-kid fare.

[Mabelline]

The Milkshake or Malted (with Scotch) doesn't curdle...actually doesn't taste any worse than a Colorado Bulldog. But I wouldn't do a curdling drink, myself. I am glad I'm not a youngin anymore, though.

[andiesenji]

Back in the late 50s and early 60s, there was a fad of drinking milk with Scotch - known, at least in the places frequented by my husband and me, as Moose Milk.

Cube ice was placed in an old-fashioned glass then the milk was added and lastly the Scotch was sort of floated on top. The drinker could stir or not, whatever his or her personal preference.

The elderly folks in my family often drank milk with sherry, a sweet sherry, it was poured into a jug and whipped.

They called it a Sherry Flip and it was a pre-bedtime drink.

Since they all seemed to live to very advanced ages, I don't think it did them any harm.

Eggnog and milk punch were served during the holidays and there certainly was plenty of liquor in most of it, although there was a plain version for children.