It’s officially eggnog season. Rejoice! I’m a ride-or-die fan of the creamy, spicy, boozy concoction. In fact, I’m spending the next two days making a big batch of the stuff, but I’ll cover that process in a post later this week. Until then, I’m going to dive into Evan Williams Original Southern Egg Nog.
Yes, we’re talking about the $10 bottle you can find on most liquor store shelves right now.
At first glance, it would almost seem sacrilege to drink eggnog from a sealed bourbon bottle that doesn’t even sit in the dairy aisle. And while I’m not a fan of flavored whiskey, this… isn’t exactly that. This is a cream liqueur that’s spiced to taste like a classic nog. That I can get into.
Below, I’m going to (very seriously!) offer up my tasting notes on Evan William’s swing at nog. I’m tasting this from a pre-chilled bottle (from the fridge) over three rocks with a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg. Let’s get into it.
Evan Williams Original Southern Egg Nog Bourbon
ABV: 30%
Average Price: $10
The Whiskey:
This “flavored” whiskey is a spiced cream liqueur that’s cut with sweet Kentucky bourbon, blended bourbon, brandy, and rum from Heaven Hill (which makes several labels for each category). If you drink whiskey cream liqueurs (Bailey’s, Carolan’s, etc.), you’ll have a general idea of where this bottle fits.
Tasting Notes:
I dusted this with freshly grated nutmeg, so, naturally, that’s the first smell I get on the nose. Beyond that, there’s a heavy cream on the nose that has a touch of vanilla and a hint of rum raisins. The taste is pure nog with nutmeg married to heavy cream with a pudding/yolky vibe and a lot of white sugar. There’s a twinge of alcohol in the mix that feels like a dark rum or bourbon — shout out to the vanilla — but the brandy is lost on me. There’s also a bit of an alcohol/ethanol note of the backend that leans into a plastic vanilla extract bottle but it’s super subtle.
The texture is incredibly smooth and has a nice heft to it that feels not quite as creamy as eggnog from a dairy farm (the ones that you get in a glass bottle) but not quite as thin as the stuff you get at the grocery store either. It’s a nice balance and goes down very easily.
As I dropped into the second pour of this, I started to notice the faintest hint of barnyard funk around the mid-palate. It wasn’t sour or tart. It was just this whisper of a barn that was kind of nostalgic and enticing, yet very fleeting. That said, I could see this being a huge turn-off for some folks.
The Bottle:
This is a standard Evan Williams bottle with a festive label. In case you need directions, there’s a nice bulbous rocks glass right on the label with a dusting of nutmeg with a cinnamon stick serving as a swizzle stick. The label also tells you to serve “chilled,” hence the pre-chilling in the fridge and rocks in my glass.
Bottom Line:
Look, making a big batch of eggnog is time-consuming and kind of a pain in the ass (especially if you’re folding in egg whites). This is a perfectly suitable, albeit very sweet, alternative. It’s really tasty but on the thinner side of the spectrum. It’s just boozy enough that you know there’s some “punch” there. The spices truly shine through.
Generally speaking, I’m going to say: I dig this and I’m kind of wishing I bought a case to save me from having to spend two days making a batch of nog this weekend. I can quite happily savor this on the rocks with that dash of nutmeg.
