flowers of st. francis

1 1/2 oz Citadelle Gin
1/2 oz St. Elder Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Acidified Rosemary Syrup (*)
3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters
1 oz Whole Milk

The above is for a single drink and scaled according to need. Combine all but the milk, add the milk, and gently stir. Strain through a coffee filter. Add the first third or so that passes through back into the filter but gently so as not to disturb the curd bed (I utilize a ladle). Repeat with the first third re-strain if it is not clear enough. Bottle and refrigerate. Serve over ice in a double old fashioned glass and garnish with a short sprig of rosemary.
(*) A 1:1 syrup with 1 gram citric acid per ounce (~3% or around half the strength of lemon juice). In a pinch, add an extra 1/4 oz lemon juice if not using acidified.At Josephine, we were in need of another clarified milk punch batch since my co-worker who started making them had left and their last bottle was just opened. I had made a few clarified milk punches back in 2010 right after Drink revived the style in Boston in 2009 with their Hibiscus White Rum Milk Punch; the two recipes that I created and recorded here were the Coffee Milk Punch and the Wu Wei Milk Punch. For a starting point, I looked in our restaurant's walk-in, and with it being winter, I was not inspired by what I saw. I then turned to the modern classics and a housemade syrup. I was inspired by Misty Kalkofen's Bohemian, Paul Clarke's Dunniette, Drink's Dejeuner, and how well rosemary, gin, and grapefruit combine. The Peychuad's Bitters from the Bohemian was my final addition when the combination of gin, elderflower, aperol, rosemary, grapefruit, and lemon still seemed a little flat, and that trick worked once again. Once I prepared a small batch, I showcased the result and got approval; for a name, I suggested a Fellini movie title, and this one became dubbed the Flowers of St. Francis.