Eggnog

What seemed to have been the last straw in Covid restrictions for beleaguered cocktailians came in December with the reports of a shortage of the main ingredient in the archetypal cold weather drink. Eggnog would not be available for the holidays. We’d not only been widely driven out of bars, but now the quaff to sip while sitting at home and watching the snow pile up outside had been snatched from our grasp.
It turns out that the great eggnog dearth was a false alarm for those who failed to look past the headline. The shortage affected only the store-bought nog and not our ability to stand up as amateur mixologists and conjure this punch with the odd-sounding name that has been with us for at least two-and-a-half centuries. It was in reality a shortage of buttermilk, the ingredient used to thicken prepackaged eggnog. If you rolled up your sleeves you could have made batches of the holiday flavor.
Most kitchens harbor the necessary components to quickly whip up the following recipe. The dark rum can be substituted with other brown spirit (e.g., any whisky or brandy). If you’re still spooked by the pandemic make it in solitary sizes by dividing quantities by four, rather than creating a bowl full.