This Caspar Milquetoast cocktail is anything but bland

This drink comes from Brisbane bartender Aidan Perkins, who runs the show at new bar, Milquetoast — and for this namesake cocktail, they’ve packed in the flavour.

“It is inspired by the homophones Milquetoast and Milk Toast,” Aidan says. “This drink turns the nominally bland ingredients of milk and white toast into a nutty and refreshing spritz. Not bland.”

Caspar Milquetoast

30mls Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin
30mls Sparkling Wine
60mls Fermented Granny Smith Apple*
15mls Vanilla Syrup*
40mls Milk Toast*
90mls Filtered Water
0.5g Malic Acid
1g Distillers Conditioner

Ice: Half Sized Collins Ice
Glassware: Aromatic White Wine Glass

Service Method:

1. Prepare the cocktail as per the method listed in the Milk Punch And Carbonation sections.
2. Remove carbonated batch from the fridge and slowly depressurize the bottle to prevent foaming.
3. Using a pair of ice tongs carefully place the ice into the glass.
4. While pouring at an angle slowly and carefully pour approx. 150mls of the carbonated batched into the glass.
5. Enjoy!

Milk Punch Method:

1. For the best results I recommend making this as a 10x batch.
2. Place all ingredients into the fridge overnight. This will ensure perfect clarity in the final product as milk washed cocktails are very susceptible to changes in temperature.
3. In a clean jug combine the Four Pillars Rare Dry, Sparkling Wine, Fermented Granny Smith Apple, Vanilla Syrup and Filtered Water.
4. Using a set of micro scales carefully weigh out the Malic Acid then add it to the other combined ingredients.
5. In a separate jug measure out the Milk Toast.
6. Slowly pour the content of the first jug into the Milk Toast. It is important to pour the cocktail into the milk rather than the milk into the cocktail. If you pour the milk into the cocktail, you will get an uneven distribution of curds as the milk will only curdle at the exact location it has met the cocktail. This will result in a cloudy cocktail.
7. Stir the milk and cocktail together to ensure that the milk has fully curdled.
8. Strain the curdled mixture using an oil filter. The first liquid that runs through the filter will be cloudy. Wait until the liquid becomes crystal clear then repass the cloudy liquid through the same oil filter. Do not force or squeeze the liquid through the filter as this will create a cloudy drink with a muddy texture.
9. Place the straining cocktail into the fridge and allow it to slowly strain.
10. Once the cocktail has been fully strained, check that there is no sediment or loose curds that made it through the filter. If there is, pass the cocktail through a coffee filter to remove.
11. Using a set of micro scales carefully weigh out the Distillers Conditioner then add it to the other combined ingredients. This ingredient prevents the milk punch from foaming during the carbonation phase.
12. Proceed to the Carbonation Method.

Carbonation Method:
1.Pour 1.5L of the Milk Punch into a 2L PET bottle. Seal the bottle using a carbonation cap.
2. Place the bottle into the freezer or ice bath until the temperature of the batch is -3 degrees Celsius. C02 best dissolves into a liquid when it is cold, so we need to get the cocktail as cold as possible without it forming ice (ice shards forming during this process will cause the cocktail to foam violently when carbonating).
3. Carefully squeeze all the air out of the bottle and reattach the carbonation cap. Air is the enemy of carbonation as it causes excessive foaming, so during carbonation we need to remove as much air as possible.
4. Attach the bottle to a C02 canister pressurised to 40PSI. This high pressure was chosen to imitate the texture of sparkling wine.
5. Vigorously shake the bottle to dissolve the CO2 into the liquid.
6. Return the pressurised bottle to the ice bath and leave the bottle to sit for 5 minutes.
7. Rapidly depressurise the bottle by removing the carbonation cap. At this point we want to encourage the drink to foam as it forms large, quickly expanding C02 bubbles that push any remaining air trapped within the cocktail out of the liquid.
8. Leave to sit for another two minutes or until all the foam has dissipated. This will allow you to squeeze all the air out more easily of the bottle in the next step.
9. Remove from the ice bath and repeat steps 3-8 twice then repressurise the bottle once more. The repeated process efficiently removes all the remaining air trapped within the cocktail dissolves a large amount of C02 within the liquid.
10. Place the bottle into the fridge overnight to allow the C02 to fully dissolve into the liquid.
11. For service keep the bottled cocktail in a fridge set to 4 degrees (this is the optimal temperature to enjoy this cocktail)

Appendix:
Fermented Granny Smith Apple:
1kg Granny Smith Apples
20g Fine Sea Salt

1. Roughly chop the apples.
2. Place into a vacuum sealed bag along with the salt. Using gloves, thoroughly mix the two together.
3. Seal the bag and leave to ferment for one week.
4. Monitor the bag to ensure that it has not exploded or turned into a balloon. If the bag has inflated too much then open it and reseal it.
5. Once fermented, place the contents of the bag into a blender and blend on full speed until fully incorporated.
6. Strain the fermented apple pulp through an oil filter.
7. Collect the fermented juice and store in the fridge labelled with the date.

Vanilla Syrup:
500g Caster Sugar
500g Filtered Water
10g Vanilla Bean Paste

1. Add all ingredients into a pot over medium heat.
2. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar.
3. Once all the sugar has been dissolved remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Once cool, label with the date and store in the fridge.

Milk Toast:
150g White Bread
750g Full Cream Milk

1. Toast the bread until golden brown and fragrant but not burnt. If any parts of the toast become burnt, cut them off.
2. Once toasted, roughly cut the toast and place it into a vacuum sealed bag along with the milk.
3. Seal the bag and using your hands gently crush the bread and milk together until you have created a rough puree.
4. Leave to infuse in the fridge overnight.
5. Strain through an oil filter or nut milk bag. Squeeze as much of the milk as possible from the bread.
6. Use immediately.