Distilled: Van Winkle Christmas Eggnog
'Tis the Season for cozy and festive cocktails!
Traditions are meant to be shared. Something else that is better when shared? Food and drinks! Fortunately, the holiday season happens to have more reasons to celebrate traditions and enjoy festive food and drink together!
If you ask someone what their favorite holiday traditions are, food and drinks are likely to be high on their list. They certainly are for us.
On occasion a festive cocktail has even become so ingrained into the fabric of a specific holiday that it becomes practically synonymous with the holiday itself. In the case of Christmas, of course, it is Eggnog. We can’t remember, or frankly imagine, a Christmas or Christmas Eve without it.
As with most Christmas traditions, Eggnog has a rich tradition dating back hundreds of years. With an origin story dating back to Monastic England and a drink called Posset, which was made with milk, eggs, and wine or barley. Special occasion worthy due to the expensive nature of the ingredients, you can see how that has evolved into what we know and enjoy as Christmas Eggnog to this day.
Associated with Christmas since the 1700s, it found its way into Colonial America as a Christmas Tradition in the 19th century, where Americans traded expensive wine for more readily available whiskey and rum. As traditions go, this one can boast the illustrious distinction of being served at Mount Vernon by George Washington.
While the name is no longer distinguishable by the original Posset title, it is quite literally tied to the ingredients, as egg is still the notable base. It is thick, creamy, frothy, and delicious.
We can easily trace the tradition of Christmas Eve Eggnog to Pappy and Nana’s famous Christmas parties. Ever the hostess, it was well known that Nana went “all out for Christmas.”
Famous for her decorations, including her flocked Christmas trees and her ever changing themed Christmas trees, Christmas was quite the affair at their house. So many of the traditions we still celebrate with our family, and those that inspired the very nature of Pappy & Company, can be traced back to these occasions that Nana was known to imbue with her entertaining magic.
Christmas Eggnog is as ever-present in our Christmas traditions as it was back in Nana and Pappy’s heyday. Typically served from Pappy Van Winkle’s original silver punch bowl, it is as much of a centerpiece as a celebratory beverage. However, we have had to become a little bit more creative with our serving after a small cousin, fascinated by Pappy’s gleaming silver bowl promising a delightful frothy concoction that so closely resembled ice cream that they served themselves a heaping spoonful - only to be instantly shocked by the heavy presence of bourbon.
We now offer Eggnog with a warning, scrawled in a child’s handwriting, with the proper advice that the proffered beverage is “For Adults Only.” Consider yourself duly warned. One of our favorite Christmas traditions, we are sharing the Van Winkle Family Eggnog with all of you!
Enjoy Nana and Pappy’s original Christmas Eve Eggnog here.
Enjoy some of our other Pappy Van Winkle inspired and infused cozy and festive cocktails perfect for ringing in the season and staying warm by the fireplace!
