Deploying advanced new in-flight EggNog resupply technology.

A happy Yuletide to you all.
Just like Santa, you need plenty of eggnog today, so my gift to you is a bunch of links to friends who know eggnog better than I.

• Paul Clarke: General Harrison’s Eggnog
• Darcy O’Neil: Eggnog Recipies (1898)
• Camper English: Eggnog Goes Bananas
• Kevin Gray: Holiday Cocktail Recipies
• Lance Mayhew: Kahlua Cinnamon Spice Eggnog
• Andrew Bohrer: The Cocktail Advent Calendar-Eggnog
• Jeffrey Morgenthaler: Egg Nog

I’m currently preparing a review of A.J. Rathbun’s excellent book, Dark Spirits, which I hope to have done soon. But right smack dab in the center of the book is a recipe that I just have to go ahead and blog. A cocktail with a name like the Bosom Caresser is simply made to punch up the traffic numbers via Rule 5. Sue me.

In concert with A.J., let me caution the reader about making assumptions. Just serving one of these is no, um, License to Feel as it were. On the other hand, offering a drink called a Bosom Caresser to the object of your desire is a pretty clear declaration of intent, so if you don’t find yourself wearing this concoction right off the bat, you may be on the right track.
As a drink, the Bosom Caresser is actually pretty decent. It is sweetish and very rich in texture. Use good grenadine and you have a nice little tang as well. Drink it quickly though, as it does not improve as it warms.
As for how it looks…. I did not do a picture of the drink for a couple of reasons. First, where this drink really fails to be great is in appearance. A great cocktail has to look good, and this one looks cloudy and a sickly yellow-brown. Second, if I did a picture of the drink, I wouldn’t have an excuse to post the two pics I am using which are so much more appropriate anyway.
Regardless, if you are looking to roll the dice, connubially or cocktail-wise, give the Bosom Caresser a shot, with a smile.

Over at Bostonist, they notice something scary: One Horseman has become three!

First, the world nearly lost Angostura Bitters. Here and there, shortages still rend lamentations from the throats of woeful cocktailians. If AB can be threatened, then no ingredient can be truly safe, can it? I dubbed this the Bitterlypse, but Bostonist points out that it was merely one horseman of a wider cocktail apocalypse.

Second (third in Bostonist’s reckoning) came the Egg Nazis, descending on that Citadel of Good, Pegu Club in Manhattan. Really guys? I’ve eaten in New York City. The Gotham health inspectors have more important concerns than the threat of a little raw egg white being served in glasses full of disinfectant.

And it still gets worse.

Third comes a fell horseman, sweeping away all the OXO two ounce mini measures from stores, and none appear on the horizon to replace them! These truly are dire times.

But here’s the really creepy part. There are four horsemen. What pestilence will this guy bring?

Via Bret Thorn of Nation’s Restaurant News, we have the latest sand in the gears of an enjoyable life, courtesy of our various fine governments.
The Man dropped in on the Pegu Club in New York City for a routine health inspection, and noticed the fact that they use raw eggs in certain cocktails. Apparently, raw eggs are illegal in New York, even if you warn your customers about their use.

Oooooh, scary!
(Original egg image stolen from here)

Guys, you have to use raw egg whites in certain cocktails… both old and new. Very few eggs in America actually have salmonella contamination. (Odds are, you’ll encounter one about once every 84 years.) Fewer of those eggs will actually result in a dose enough to get anyone sick, especially when said egg whites are mixed into a glass of disinfectant!
Now, I do understand that a tiny risk still exists, but I guarantee you are in a lot more mortal danger from the taxis and random New Yorkers you must pass simply to get to Pegu Club than you are from any number of Earl Grey MarTEAnis consumed once there. (Of course, if you are pregnant, the risks from raw eggs are much higher. But, um, if you are pregnant, there are a lot more dangerous ingredients in a Pisco Sour than that dollop of egg white!)
And why are raw eggs, even with a warning, a violation, while raw seafood is not?
Now, I am hoping that this is less of a pain in the butt than it first appears. Audrey Saunders’ FaceBook Page states, …we have to switch to pasteurized eggs in our cocktails. If that is all they have to do, that is in fact no great shakes. I use pasteurized eggs whenever I use egg whites in drinks. They only cost a few cents more, eliminate a microscopic risk, and are otherwise indistinguishable from regular eggs. But the other part of the story claims that raw eggs are not allowed. Does this mean raw, pasteurized eggs too? I’m pretty sure cooked egg whites in a Ramos Gin Fizz would produce rather sub-par results….
Anyone have some clarification on this? Are there any municipalities that do not allow raw eggs of any kind to be served? Is Nanny Bloomberg’s demesne one such?