I've actually never had an eggnog. My impression is that it is likely just ice cream that was never frozen, perhaps with some nasty cloves thrown in. Do not like cloves.
The drink is the descendant of a medieval concoction known as a posset. Possets were a sort of hot milk punch, with wine or ale added when hot to make the milk curdle. Possets make an appearance in Macbeth, Act II scene ii when Lady Macbeth uses a poisoned one to knock out the guards outside Duncan's quarters.
The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugg'd their possets
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
and also in one of the Narnia books, The Silver Chair. C. S. Lewis writes that Jill Pole should be given "...all you can think of—possets and comfits and caraways and lullabies and toys."
How possets became nogs is still debated. The word "nog" referred to a kind of strong beer brewed in East Anglia. On the other hand, it may also have come from the Middle English word for a small, carved wooden mug used to serve alcohol. There are other less likely sources, but they all share one thing in common: eggnog as a device for conveying booze to the mouth, usually in the form of rum or whiskey. But in Medieval times, it was enjoyed only by the upper crust as they were the only ones with reliable access to fresh milk.
By the time it crossed the Atlantic, however, eggnog was consumed by everyone because the two main ingredients were present in abundance. Dairy farms were everywhere in the colonies. Sugar, and therefore rum was also prevalent due to the infamous Triangle Trade -- slaves from West Africa to the carribean to work the sugar plantations; sugar to New England in the form of molasses to make rum; money from the sale of the molasses back to Africa to get more slaves, the average lifetime on a sugar plantation being three years. George Washington had a famous recipe for eggnog that included rum, sherry, brandy and whiskey. Parties at Mount Vernon were apparently rip roaring affairs.
Eggnog was a traditional part of the Christmas celebrations at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York. In 1817, Sylvanus Thayer, a strict disciplinarian, took command at West Point, and basically brought it into being. By 1826, the Academy had 36 faculty and four departments -- mathematics, engineering, natural philosophy, and military tactics.
In that year, concerns that drinking among cadets was getting out of control, despite the punishments associated with intoxication, resulted in Thayer banning all forms of alcohol from the campus. The cadets were informed that, due to the alcohol prohibition, their Christmas eggnog would be alcohol-free, prompting the cadets' decision to smuggle it in.
And that is how the Great Christmas Eggnog Riot came about, on this day and also the next day of 1826.
One of the 260 cadets at the time was Robert E. Lee, who did not participate because even then, in any room, he was the one most likely to have a stick up his ass. Jefferson Davis of later infamy, on the other hand, was an extravagant drinker. There were two taverns near campus. The most popular was Benny Haven because there you could barter blankets and shoes for booze. Davis was the first cadet to be arrested for going there. Another time, he was reportedly so drunk that he fell down a 60 foot ravine. Davis was fully on board with the smuggling plan.
Benny Haven's proved too expensive to supply the amounts of liquor the cadets wanted to bring to the holiday party. Instead, several nights before Christmas, three cadets crossed the Hudson River to the the east bank to procure whiskey from the area's other tavern, Martin's. The cadets took the contraband booze back across the river to the academy. At the dock, they found an enlisted solider standing guard, but paid the man 35 cents for him to turn his back while they unloaded their cargo.
Thayer was strict, but he wasn't dense. Cadets had smuggled alcohol into the academy before, and those situations had been dealt with on an individual basis. He assumed that, with the holidays, there would be similar incidents--in fact, he discussed such a possibility with colleagues at a small party the night before. But Thayer took nothing more than standard precautions, assigning two officers--Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock and Lieutenant William A. Thorton--to monitor the North Barracks.
When Thorton and Hitchcock went to bed around midnight, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Four hours later, Hitchcock awoke to the sound of a rowdy party a few floors above him. Crashing the party, he found six or seven cadets, visibly inebriated. He ordered them to disperse back to their rooms, and turned to leave. Before he could return to his own quarters, however, Hitchcock heard the sound of another party happening in the adjoining bedroom. When he entered, he found another two drunk cadets, attempting to hide under a blanket. A third cadet, also drunk, was attempting to hide behind a hat and refused to remove it. As Hitchcock continued to demand the cadet reveal his identity, a few angry words were exchanged--enough to enrage other cadets nearby, who (after Hitchcock left) shouted: "Get your dirks and bayonets...and pistols if you have them. Before this night is over, Hitchcock will be dead!"
The EggNog Riot was off and running. Soon enough, Hitchcock heard a commotion coming from floors below, seemingly larger and rowdier than the party he had broken up upstairs. On his way to intervene, he ran into a drunken Jefferson Davis, who burst into the room along with Hitchcock and announced: "Put away the grog boys! Captain Hitchcock's coming!", not realizing Hitchcock was right beside him. Hitchcock ordered Davis back to his room. Davis complied, staggering away from the chaos, to his room where he promptly vomited on the floor and then passed out in his bed, probably saving himself from the coming court martials.
Thorton, in his own attempt to break up gatherings, had a cadet threaten him with his sword--another cadet actually hit Thorton with a piece of wood, knocking him down. Things weren't going much better for Hitchcock. As he attempted to break down a barricaded door, a cadet pulled a pistol out, attempting to shoot him. Another cadet jostled him as he shot, sending the bullet into the door jamb, but the encounter was enough to convince Hitchcock to beat a hasty retreat and get some backup. Several cadets were stopped by a cadet relief sentinal and questioned about their behavior. They gave a drunken explanation about needing drums and a fife.
Hitchcock found a cadet relief sentinel, and told him to "bring the 'com here." By "'com," Hitchcock meant Commandant of Cadets, but rumors quickly spread throughout the barrack that Hitchcock was summoning the "bombardiers," the cadets' nickname for regular Army artillery men who were also stationed at West Point. The cadets hated the artillery men, and they viewed Hitchcock's summoning of them as an affront to their integrity. Cadets in the North Barracks began taking up arms in an attempt to defend the building from the artillery men. Windows were smashed and furniture broken to set up barricades. The artillery arrived at the North Barracks by the time of reveille at 0605.
Reveille was accompanied by the sounds of gunfire, breaking glass, swearing, cries of pain, and threats to academy officials. By 0620, some of the cadets had assembled into a drunken formation while others remained in their rooms continuing to drink. The mutiny officially ended when Cadet Captain James A.J. Bradford called the corps to attention and dismissed them from the mess hall after breakfast.
Out of 260 cadets, around 90 could have been charged and expelled for the night's events. However, West Point was even then acquiring a reputation as an anarchic place and Thayer did not want to reinforce it. He chose to deal with only the most aggressive offenders, expelling 19. Davis ratted out some of his fellow drunks, and escaped without charges. He was able to go on to later treasonous infamy. Lee testified but was otherwise not involved. John Archibald Campbell, later justice of the Supreme Court, was court martialed but not expelled. Hugh Mercer and Benjamin Humphreys were expelled and later become generals in the Confederate army. One regular army soldier, Private John Dougan, was sentenced to one month of hard labor and forfeited his whiskey ration.
None of the buildings from the EggNog riot remain on West Point's present day campus, but the riots did have a lasting impact on the campus' architecture. In the 1840s, when North Barracks was rebuilt, Thayer clearly had future riots in mind. They included short hallways that required cadets to exit the building entirely in order to access another floor, thus making it more difficult to gather in large numbers. Only one of these barracks is still standing.
Eggnog. Seems like such an innocent thing.
George Washington's Eggnog Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
One Quart Cream
One Quart Milk
One Dozen Tablespoons Sugar
One Pint Brandy
1/2 Pint Rye Whiskey
1/2 Pint Jamaica Rum
1/2 Pint Sherry
Instructions
Mix liquor first
Separate yolks and whites of eggs
Add sugar to beaten yolks
Mix well
Add milk and cream, slowly beating
Beat whites of eggs until stiff
Fold whites of eggs into mixture
Let sit in cool place for several days
Taste frequently
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