One of the hottest, industry-wide trends of late is the clarified cocktail. It’s a batched cocktail that has been stripped of most color, solids, and other potential impurities by some sort of clarifying agent. Drinkers like them for a number of reasons: They’re smooth, subtle, and Instagrammable. And now they’re everywhere.
Well, they’re not quite everywhere — they’re mainly at bars. But why not add the clear, silky cocktails to your home-bartending repertoire? After all, the method is best with batched cocktails, a trick that makes at-home mixology all the easier.
“For home clarifying cocktails, milk clarification is easy because the chemistry does the work for you,” says John Carpo, general manager at Musaek, a cocktail bar in Midtown Manhattan built entirely on the premise of serving clarified cocktails. (The word musaek in Korean translates to ‘colorless.’)
Filtering and refining cocktails at home may sound like it requires a lab coat and goggles, but all it really takes is a few extra ingredients, tools, and minutes. The milk-washing technique calls for soy or whole milk and some kind of filter — items that are already staples in many households. Home bartenders can pour a batched cocktail over roughly the same volume of milk. From there, a chemical reaction takes place to curdle the milk, and the color and solids from the drink are trapped by the curds, leaving a clarified liquid that retains the original flavor.
“The acid in the drink naturally curdles the milk, which traps haze and color,” Carpo says. “It’s very forgiving: You don’t need precise ratios, special equipment, or strict temperature control. Even if it’s not perfect the first time, you can simply strain it again and it usually comes out clear.”
Carpo suggests using a fine-mesh sieve, cheesecloth, or a coffee filter to pass the liquid through after the suspension has rested for a few minutes. Some bartenders like adding another acidic element, such as citric acid, to ensure the reaction is successful. The look of the final product will be clear or transparent with hints of the cocktail’s original color, depending on its ingredients, and the texture will be silky and creamy.
At Musaek, Carpo uses agar-agar — a plant-based gelatin alternative — to clarify cocktails with dark spirits like whiskey. He says this method refines, rather than removes, character from beverages. “As the liquid sets and gently drains, the gelled agar-agar captures excess oils and haze, leaving the flavor intact” in the remaining liquid, he says. “The result is a spirit that is visually clean, and softer on the palate.”
Clarified cocktails also retain carbonation longer. Carbon dioxide escapes from beverages when it latches onto solids. Think: pulp from lime or lemon juice in a Gin & Tonic or a Gin Fizz. No matter how small, solid particles impede effervescence. Because the clarification removes residual solids, clarifying the components of a bubbly cocktail — before adding the fizzy ingredients — will help it remain well carbonated.
There are several other benefits to clarifying cocktails at home. The translucence is visually appealing, the milk fats smooth out bitter and boozy flavors, and it removes potentially unfavorable textures like astringence. It’s also a way to boast about your professional-level mixology techniques to party guests, who are likely to be wowed by a clear-looking yet familiar-tasting beverage.
