• Julia Thiel

After three weeks, the eggnog had mellowed out quite a bit: it was no longer unpleasant, but still pretty intense. I tried a little of it straight—probably only an ounce or two—and enjoyed the first few sips, but after that I didn’t have much desire to drink any more. It still tasted pretty boozy (though the aging had eliminated the alcoholic burn), and was incredibly rich. According to Alton Brown, eggnog is technically stirred custard—like ice cream, except with too much alcohol to freeze. And melted alcoholic ice cream, while it could be delicious, isn’t something I’d want to drink a ton of.

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The next evening, with the egg whites finally thawed, I decided to try the eggnog with whipped egg whites incorporated. I didn’t go back and read the instructions, which say that you should beat them to soft peaks—so I went ahead and created stiff peaks, which made folding it into the eggnog interesting. I also added about a tablespoon of half-and-half and a good shake of cinnamon (I didn’t have any nutmeg) to each glass.