Food - Drink
Each Branch Of Canada's Military Stakes Claim In The Moose Milk Cocktail
By RYAN CASHMAN
The Canadian military has its fair share of official customs and traditions, and all three of its branches have a friendly rivalry centered around a cocktail called moose milk. This boozy rendition of eggnog punch has no formal recipe, since each branch of the military claims to have invented it, and each uses a very different formula.
The most repeated origin story of this cocktail centers involves a New Year's Eve party at an Ontario armed forces base during World War II, where a young flight sergeant was tasked with creating a punch strong enough to satisfy the troops, but flavorful enough for female attendees to enjoy. The result was eggnog-like moose milk.
Today, moose milk is associated with the Canadian navy, and their recipe includes a gallon of vanilla ice cream, a pot of cold coffee, half a gallon of milk, one pint each of vodka, dark rum, and Kalhúa, plus dark chocolate. However, as previously stated, the army and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) also lay claim to the cocktail.
The army's recipe is similar to the navy's, but drops the dark chocolate, swaps out the milk for eggnog, and adds maple syrup, vanilla extract, and 20 ounces of Disaronno. The RCAF recipe is the most involved, starting with 12 egg yolks beaten together with sugar, milk, maple syrup, Canadian whiskey, rum, and Kalhúa.
This eggy mixture is chilled for a minimum of three hours or up to overnight, then whipped cream is then gently folded in and the punch is chilled for another hour. Despite the rivalry over moose milk, the point has always been to satisfy heavy-drinking army men with a heavy hit of sweetness, richness, and alcoholic potency.