Eggs and milk — and possibly booze. Unless you’re Gaston, the idea of guzzling down an egg beverage likely doesn’t sound appetizing. And yet eggnog has become the quintessential Christmas beverage. It’s one of those concoctions you either adore or run screaming from.
I’m an eggnog aficionado, although I am a bit surprised to be one. Most dairy beverages don’t appeal to me. But whether due to nostalgia from my first sip during a snowy Pennsylvania Christmas or some genetic quirk that makes it particularly tasty to me, I eagerly drink eggnog every holiday season.
But how on Earth did this bizarre beverage come to be? What makes it so appealing (or despised, depending on the person)?
What the Heck is Nog?
The word “eggnog” first appeared in a 1774 poem written by minister Jonathan Boucher, who apparently fancied quite a few different beverages:
Fog-drams i’ th’ morn, or (better still) egg-nogg,
At night hot-suppings, and at mid-day, grogg,
My palate can regale:
