nog

The word nog appeared in seventeenth-century English meaning a strong ale brewed in East Anglia. Its origin is unknown. Some linguists connect it to noggin, a small wooden cup, suggesting the drink was named after its vessel. Others propose a link to Norfolk dialect. The Oxford English Dictionary hedges with 'origin obscure.' What is certain is that by the 1690s, nog or nogg was a documented English word for a type of strong beer.

Eggnog — the compound — first appeared in American English in the late eighteenth century. The colonial American version was a mix of rum, milk, eggs, and sugar, a drink of considerable richness and alcohol content. George Washington's eggnog recipe, preserved at Mount Vernon, calls for one quart each of cream, milk, and brandy, plus half a pint each of rye whiskey and rum, a dozen eggs, and sugar to taste. The recipe would inebriate a regiment. It was a celebration drink, not a casual one.

The drink crossed class lines. In the American South, eggnog was a Christmas tradition in plantation houses, made with bourbon and aged for weeks. In the North, taverns served it hot. In 1826, cadets at West Point smuggled whiskey into the barracks to make eggnog, resulting in a riot — the Eggnog Riot — that involved pistols, swords, and the arrest of twenty cadets. Jefferson Davis was a participant. Eggnog, it turned out, was worth fighting over.

Commercial eggnog appeared in the 1940s, pasteurized and shelf-stable. The alcohol was removed. The eggs were reduced. What remained was a spiced, sweetened milk product sold in cartons from Thanksgiving to New Year's. The drink that Washington made with five kinds of liquor became a dairy product marketed to families. The word nog survived, still unexplained, still attached to something it may never have meant.