December 24# : National Eggnog Day

3 min read

“The armored infantry was Santa Claus, the battle was our Christmas. What else for the elves to do on Christmas Eve but to let their hair down and drink a little eggnog.”
Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Gather round the fire and sip on a creamy, frothy festive classic, seasoned with cinnamon or mixed with alcohol for an extra punch!
We all know eggnog, that famous holiday drink sold in stores only during the length of November through December.
Whether we buy it in stores so the whole family can have a glass or make our own, it has always been a staple drink for the Christmas season.
But the real question is, where did eggnog come from, and when did it come into existence?

Eggnog is historically also known as milk punch or egg milk punch when it is mixed with an alcoholic beverage. It’s a rich, chilled, creamy, and sweetened dairy drink traditionally created with milk and/or cream, sugar, whipped eggs which helps it gain it’s frothy texture, and sometimes mixed spirits.
Its origins are highly debated as are the original ingredients used for it.
The Oxford English Dictionary claims that nog was a kind of strong beer brewed somewhere in East Anglia, and the first time the term “eggnog” was used was in 1775 when Maryland clergyman and philologist Jonathan Boucher wrote a poem about the drink, which surprisingly was not published until thirty years after his death!

The poem is this:
“Fog-drams in the morn,
or better still egg-nogg.
At night hot-suppings,
and at mid-day, grogg.
My palate can regale”

Another theory says the nog comes from the word ‘noggin’ a middle English word for a small and carved wooden mug which was used to serve alcohol (and noggin is also a song term for your head!).
And yet another say the nog comes from nugg or nugged ale, a Scottish term meaning ale which had been warmed by putting a poker from the fire in it!

The first printed use of the term was in 1788 in the New-Jersey Journal of March 26th, which referred to a young man drinking a glass of eggnog, that may have developed from posset, a Medieval European beverage made with hot milk that curdled up when mixed with wine or ale, then flavored with spices.

The earliest connection of Christmas and eggnog is from the Virginia Chronicle in 1793:
“On last Christmas Eve several gentlemen met at Northampton court-house, and spent the evening in mirth and festivity, when egg-nog was the principal Liquor used by the company. After they had indulged pretty freely in this beverage, a gentleman in company offered a bet that not one of the party could write four verses, extempore, which should be rhyme and sense…”

Celebrating National Eggnog Day is quite easy.
All we have to do is buy or make our own eggnog and enjoy it, alcoholic or not!