Of all the drinks we pour back during the holiday season, none feel so inextricably tied to the Christmas spirit as eggnog. And like a hearty brick of fruitcake or Alvin and the Chipmunks blasting through the speakers, it’s a polarizing tradition: Chances are you’ve already made up your mind about where you stand on a creamy, boozy punch built on a foundation of egg.
But maybe you’ve been drinking the wrong ‘nog. We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with store-bought, but the mass-produced stuff you dump from a carton and mix with whatever liquor you can find will never compare to making it yourself from scratch. Consider it a Christmas miracle, then, that whipping up a batch is almost as easy as drinking it. Here’s a recipe with Don Q rum and Hennessy that will fill a punch bowl and keep any holiday party merry and bright.
A Little Background
Americans have our big brothers across the pond to thank for this wintertime classic. All the way back in the 15th century, the Brits were guzzling down a beverage called posset, made from boiled milk curdled with alcohol (typically wine or ale) and flavored with spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Like fellow cold-weather cocktail the hot toddy, posset was widely considered a remedy for minor illnesses, which ought to tell you how little convincing it took for some of our ancestors to break out the booze.
By the time we got around to calling it eggnog—a name first found in a 1775 poem attributed to a Maryland clergyman named Jonathan Boucher—it was a drink primarily reserved for the rich. As TIME notes, “Milk, eggs, and sherry were foods of the wealthy, so eggnog was often used in toasts to prosperity and good health.” But after catching popularity in the colonies, which were rich in agriculture, and for not-proud reasons, rum, it became a mainstay, an accessible cocktail for the masses. Hell, even George Washington had his own recipe. "Taste frequently," he advised. We’ve been doing so ever since.
If You Like This, Try These
While eggnog maintains its reputation as a love-it-or-hate-it holiday tradition, there are enough twists out there on the basic cream-and-rum concoction to do Clark Griswold proud. The Tom & Jerry is a variation on eggnog served hot. Down in San Juan they have the coquito, Puerto Rico’s official drink, which adds coconut cream to the mix. And south of the border, Mexico has the golden-hued rompope, which gets its color from egg yolks and sometimes is made with almonds or other nuts.
Those simply looking to stay in the holiday spirit can’t go wrong with the aforementioned hot toddy or a hot buttered rum to warm the bones.
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