Silver King

There are many "Silver" cocktails, most of them having something to do with egg white and gin. The title of King goes to the one that uses excellent gin and fresh ingredients for a hands-down winner of a cocktail that is elegant and simple. Monkey 47 is beautifully aromatic with 47 uncommon botanicals. It is very dry and light, so that an egg white cocktail can be both bracing and not weighed down by the notes of the spirit. A king, after all, is graceful.

Eggnog / Baltimore Eggnog

When it comes to this winter drink, there's Eggnog and then there's Eggnog. I mean that everyone has their own recipe for choice of spirits or batch sizes. You can make a standard whiskey eggnog to order (a single serving) or you can make a huge batch. And whatever recipe you settle on will be pretty good, more or less. It's really a matter of taste.

In Baltimore they do it this way:

Baltimore Eggnog

2 oz. brandy (cognac please)

1 oz. dark rum (Kopper Kettle chai spice rum recommended for eggnog flavors)

1 oz. Madiera

6 oz. half-and-half

1 whole egg

1 tsp. sugar

grated nutmeg

Combine all ingredients except nutmeg in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass and sprinkle nutmeg on top.

This recipe is especially festive. It has all the colonial imports and local spirits used from the days when Baltimore was a new coastal town involved in the rum trade. It is strong and awesome! Virginia Kopper Kettle chai spiced rum actually provides the traditional spice component found in eggnog.

The general accepted spirit for eggnog time out of mind has been brandy. Brandy was the strong stuff in the U.S. back when the only thing you could get locally was beer or cider (see General Harrison's Eggnog for an example of one of these colonial low ABV drinks.)

So brandy or cognac was necessary to thin the eggnogs of colonial balls without making the drink too watery or warm. These old eggnogs were served like punches with ball-goers scooping out a serving into punch glasses. It is thick and creamy and must be kept chilled.

This recipe serves 25:

1 bottle (750 ml) brandy

1 1/2 quarts of milk

1 pint whipped heavy cream

1 cup sugar

12 eggs

freshly grated nutmeg

Coffee Cocktail

This is another one of those misleading cocktails like the Chocolate Cocktail. Both are port and brandy drinks. In this case, I opted for American brandy. The topping of this misleadingly non-caffeinated drink is nutmeg sprinkles, not coffee, and there is no yellow Chartreuse. What there is, however is an egg yolk. Good for texture and thickness. Don't over-ice this cocktail in the blender. It stands up nicely like a smoothie if you don't. You'll freeze the egg white, however, with too much ice.

Egg Nog (Non-Alcoholic)

For those non-drinkers this holiday season, thank goodness for Egg Nog. The spices and richness go a long way to creating a holiday feel with just simple eggs, sugar and milk. While vanilla and almond extract have some alcohol in them, only a quarter tsp. of each is pretty much a negligible portion. There's something amazing about a made-to-order Egg Nog, one that makes a single glass with only freshest ingredients. Whipped cream and nutmeg on top seem especially indulgent--which is the point, really.