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The Holiday Cocktail:
From Eggnog and Grog to the Sugar Plum Martini

by Shawn Hare

Integrated into our modern Christmas customs are ancient Egyptian and Roman traditions, medieval pagan rituals, early Christian practices and Victorian nostalgia. Early Egyptians, on the shortest day of winter, would place green palms in their homes to symbolize life’s triumph over death and then enjoy rejoicing together with beer and bread. Most of our ideas about Christmas stem from Victorian England. When Queen Victoria married the German-born Prince Albert, many of the wonderful Christmas traditions of his homeland were brought to England. Since Victoria and her family were wildly popular, much of what they did was emulated in homes throughout England. It was Albert who brought gingered bread to England and erected the first Christmas tree in the royal palace in 1848. The Victorian Christmas menu, complete with eggnog and wassail for “cocktails,” is probably the one most people imagine when thinking of the classic Christmas dinner.

Eggnog was a very common holiday drink in Colonial America. It was a tradition in America before Santa Claus, the Christmas tree or the national holiday of Christmas. Though different from wassail, which used fruits as a base, eggnog’s consistent ingredient has always been eggs. In addition to the eggs and cream, eggnog of the 18th century could contain any manner of wine, exotic spices, beer, ale or other spirits. George Washington’s recipe called for one quart of cream, one quart of milk, a dozen eggs, one pint of brandy, a half pint of rye, a quarter pint of rum and a quarter pint of sherry. Our first president was famous for holding festive Christmas gatherings featuring his unique brand of eggnog.

Wassail was originally not a drink, but a practice of caroling. In Merry Old England, carolers would bring a cup with them, and, as they sang before the homes of wealthy citizens, their mugs would be filled with hot spiced ale, often with a roasted apple slice floating in it. Few holiday traditions have endured as long or seen so many variations as that of wassailing. Its origins are unknown, but it is mentioned in texts dating as far back as the 14th century. In one such text, the leader of a group took a bowl and, raising it to the crowd, shouted, “Wassail!” an Old English term meaning “to your health.”

There are three variations of wassailing. The first is the filling of a common bowl or cup (often referred to by ancient clergy as the Loving Cup) and passing it around a room to be shared. Another variation calls for taking the bowl around to each individual house so neighbors can partake as friends. The third version is a celebration of the apple harvest and the blessing of the fruit.

In the earliest known days of the practice, the wassail was poured onto the dormant crops and orchards after harvest to bless them for the coming spring and to ward off evil. Like many such practices devoted to the defense against evil, wassailing has always been a more festive activity associated with partying. Over the last two centuries, the practice has been more associated with good cheer and well wishing than the blessing of the crops.

The actual ingredients in traditional wassail are widely disputed. This could be attributed to the fact that festive bands of people who traveled from home to home often replenished the bowl with whatever liquid refreshment was available. While one home might have apple cider, another might have spirits of a stronger sort. Alcohol has no doubt played a storied part of wassail’s history, but tradition does not dictate it to be necessary. The good cheer wassailing generates is its more important characteristic.

Wassail
A variation on an ancient theme.

1 bottle Cabernet or Merlot
1 quart apple cider
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
4 orange slices
6 baked apples

Heat the bottle of red wine. Put spices in water and heat for a few minutes to release flavor. Pour all into a punch bowl along with baked apples. Serve warm.
 
Christmas 2006

Many northshore residents spent the last holiday season rebuilding their homes and lives. The sentiment of the “lost Christmas of 2005” leaves many people in our community hungry for a return to the tradition, grandeur and excitement of the past. This idea presents a unique opportunity to maintain and nurture our traditional holiday ideals. Conversely, it also allows a chance to edit the old ideas and cultivate a new standard. As any good host or hostess will tell you, it is essential to draw from the tried and true in order to evolve and move forward.

2006 presents an opportunity to replace the tired tubs of eggnog and wassail with sparkling punches and sugar-rimmed martinis. Every season, bartenders around the country put forward new holiday cocktail inventions, such as those below. All are sure to wow guests at any holiday party!

CRU Sugar Plum Martini

3 oz. Stolichnaya Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz. fresh plum purée
2 oz. grenadine syrup
2 oz. cranberry juice
1 oz. orange juice
1/2 oz. Cointreau liqueur

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until ice forms on the outside of shaker. Serve in a chilled and sugared martini glass. Garnish with a sugared lemon twist.
 
Wassail Martini

1 oz. Stolichnaya Vanilla Vodka
1 oz. Sour Apple Schnapps
1 dash cinnamon syrup
5 oz. apple juice

Serve in a chilled martini glass with a cinnamon stick
 
Santa Claus Metropolitan

3 oz. spiced rum
2 oz. cranberry juice
1 oz. Galliano Orange Liqueur

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a frozen martini glass. Garnish with an orange zest.

Christmas Pudding

2 oz. Southern Comfort
2 oz. Drambuie
1 bottle Guinness stout

Add Southern Comfort and then Drambuie to a large frozen goblet. Top up with draught or chilled Guinness.

The Scarlet O’Hara

1 oz. Southern Comfort
1/2 oz. Rose’s Lime Juice
1 oz. cranberry juice

Shake all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a rocks glass with ice.

The Eggnog Riot

Christmas of 1826 was snowy, cold and lonely for the cadets of West Point. Though called “men,” they were really teenage boys. As it is today, West Point was an academy built on the ideals of order and discipline. The cadets were under the strictest orders of sobriety. Some of the young men, however—including a young Jefferson Davis—took it upon themselves to challenge those orders in the name of a holiday celebration. They organized, they partied and then they got caught. During excused absences, the men of West Point would visit area taverns and drink grog—a mix of alcoholic spirits and spices originating in Western Europe and England. But for their clandestine Christmas celebration of 1826, the cadets sought to make eggnog: a creamy mixture of typical grog ingredients combined with milk, cream and eggs.

The cadets planned their party carefully. The ingredients were smuggled in under cover of darkness, and on Christmas Eve they posted watchmen to alert them of superior officers, blackened their windows and began mixing their eggnog. Their party proceeded unnoticed until 4:30 in the morning when the effects of their celebration started to rather noisily make themselves known. By that point, keeping the officers from noticing was impossible.

What ensued has come to be known in legend as the Eggnog Riot. One cadet ended up facing murder charges by the time it was diffused. Six other cadets resigned their commissions, and 19 were court marshaled. Most cadets, including Jefferson Davis, were confined to quarters for more than a month.