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As the holiday season approaches, I like to dip into the festive feels by replacing the small splash of milk in my morning coffee with a dash of eggnog.
A dash! So imagine my surprise when, while helping my partner unpack the groceries she had picked up, I pulled out a full 2-litre carton of the thick, sweet, seasonal stuff.
My kids aren’t really into eggnog, and my partner prefers the oat, soy or almond-based alternatives, which left me wondering what to do with the excess nog.
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The jug o’ nog, nestled among some festive gnomes and featuring my coveted National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation moose mug. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
As a curious imbiber, I decided to try combining eggnog with a range of boozes I had on hand to see whether there was anything in my liquor cabinet that would work as well or better than rum. (Watch for a more professional deep dive into nog-based cocktails from my co-worker and eggnog-hesitant scribe AV Kitching in the weeks to come.)
What follows are my tasting notes after having mixed three-quarters of an ounce (around 22 ml) of each of the boozes with around 60 mls of eggnog, stirred over one ice cube in a Glencairn whisky glass…
Gin: Bombay Sapphire
(Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
I had very low expectations — expectations that were met in spades. The sharp botanical notes of the gin just don’t mesh with the baking-spice aromas of the nog. Flavour-wise it’s even worse, with the gin’s bitterness absolutely ruining the eggnog’s festive flavours. Avoid.
Tequila: Hornitos Reposado
(Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
Here the herbal aromas of the agave totally dominate the eggnog’s baking spice; you can’t really smell anything nog-like at all, and as a result I was hesitant to put this in my mouth.
It doesn’t taste nearly as bad as it smells, with the eggnog/tequila combo bringing a sort of nutty flavour before the underlying greenish agave notes kick in, but a weirdly ashen taste follows. Hard pass.
Whiskey liqueur: Southern Comfort
(Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
Disclosure: Southern Comfort and I have a history, which involves some poor decisions in my formative years.
The whiskey-based liqueur’s fruity notes pop in the glass, making it smell like someone tossed some dried apricots into the nog — not terrible. It’s less overpowering than the gin and tequila, and the fruity flavours work well enough with the eggnog.
It’s a passable combo should you be wondering whatever to do with that dusty bottle of Southern Comfort in your liquor cabinet.
Flavoured whisky: Fireball
(Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
Not surprisingly, the cinnamon of the Fireball works really well with the baking spices of the eggnog. If you like cinnamon, or want your nog with a little bit of heat, this is a solid combo; the sweetness of the Fireball isn’t dissimilar to rum, while its cinnamon burn is brought under control by all that creamy goodness.
Now we’re getting somewhere — think of this combo as the Guy Fieri of boozy nogs.
Rum: Captain Morgan’s Dark
(Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
Rum and eggnog is the standard — for the purposes of this experiment, it’s an almost-empty bottle of Captain Morgan’s dark (don’t waste the good stuff here).
Aroma-wise the loads of baking spice notes work well with the sugary, caramelized notes of the rum. It’s easy-going, perfectly smooth and approachable; it’s easy to see (and taste) why rum is the go-to booze for eggnog.
Anyone out there have secret nog-based insight into crafting boozy beverages? Do tell…
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