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That’s Right, Vintage Egg Nog

BY Kate Krader | POSTED DECEMBER 1, 2010 AT 5:50PM EST

I’m not saying anyone should try this home. But while the food world freaks out over old things—Rene Redzepi’s vintage carrots at Noma, Heston Blumenthal’s upcoming Dinner restaurant at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London that will feature dishes based on hundreds-of-years-old recipes—I’ve found something really truly crazy (in the best way). Jonathon Sawyer, an F&W Best New Chef 2010 at Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, recently showed off a "vintage Hartzler Family Dairy eggnog pot de crème" at a dinner at New York City's James Beard house. And when he says vintage, he means 2008, meaning that 2 1/2 years ago, Sawyer infused eggnog with Lagavulin Scotch and then put it away in the refrigerator. I admit, I was scared to taste it—I have suspicions about what letter grade the Health Department would have given it. But of course it was delicious. “It seems wrong, but it’s so right,” his wife, Amelia Sawyer, accurately said.

If you’re too impatient to squirrel away some spiked egg nog for a couple years, my colleague Kristin Donnelly did a great job of rounding up other novel vintage things, from cookbooks to wines; they’re in F&W’s December issue.

That’s Right, Vintage Egg Nog

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