Rum Cocktails: Rhum Agricole
Egg Nog
Egg Nog Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Dry shake for 15 seconds. Add ice and shake hard. Fine strain into a snifter, coupe, or stemmed glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Egg Nog Story
Long before becoming a winter staple in the United States, egg nog was a luxury only the European elite enjoyed. The American tradition of nog was an offshoot of a rustic English drink known as a posset: less a proper cocktail than a way to consume warm milk fortified with booze during the colder months. Adding eggs as well as exotic spices like cinnamon and nutmeg made the drink an even more expensive treat, though in colonial North America, these formerly rare provisions were just a trip to a trader or farmer away. Thus the posset caught on in America’s taverns, consumed in wooden beer tankards known as nogs. The Colonies’ main trade, rum, was the spirit of choice for a fresh egg nog, as reflected in a 1775 poem. Though egg nog was traditionally served piping hot—softly curdling the eggs—industrial dairy advances like pasteurization and widespread refrigeration allowed the drink to keep longer and be served cold, transforming the drink into one of the most popular signifiers of holiday cheer.