Charlottesville Bar Birch & Bloom’s Cocktail

This Charlottesville bar offers zero-waste cocktails from garden to glass. Here’s a recipe for Birch & Bloom’s Milk Punch

Kimpton The Forum Hotel, Charlottesville

Recipe courtesy of Daniel Beedle, chief mixologist and assistant food and beverage director

Milk Punch cocktail
Milk Punch courtesy of Birch & Bloom

3 cups water

30 grams green cardamom pods (cracked)

40 grams cinnamon sticks

120 grams peeled ginger (thinly sliced)

3 Earl Grey tea bags

50 grams lemon peels

600 grams sugar

2 liters overproof rum (e.g., Smith & Cross)

3 cups fresh lemon juice

3 cups fresh pineapple juice

7 cups whole milk

In a large pot, combine water, green cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, and ginger. Boil for 5 minutes, covered. Remove from heat.

Add Earl Grey tea bags and lemon peels to the pot. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator.

Stir in 2 liters of overproof rum into the chilled mixture. Allow to sit for a day or two to fully absorb the flavors.

When ready to make the punch, add 2 cups of fresh lemon juice and 3 cups of fresh pineapple juice to the rum mixture. In a separate large pot, combine 1 cup of fresh lemon juice with 7 cups of whole milk. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 3 hours to form curds.

Bring the milk and lemon juice mixture to a boil and hard boil for about 10 minutes. After boiling, combine with the punch and booze mixture. Gently mix with a few swirls. Refrigerate overnight.

Line a strainer with a coffee filter and let the mixture drip slowly into a clean container.

The Milk Punch can be stored in the refrigerator for a few weeks.

Serve the Milk Punch over ice.


This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue.

Hope Cartwright
Hope Cartwright is associate editor of Virginia Living. A native of Traverse City, Michigan, she is a recent graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
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