Episode 88: Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s Eggnog Essentials

No holiday season is complete without festive drinks, and among the seasonal standards is eggnog. Jeffrey Morgenthaler is an eggnog evangelist, serving his signature Tequila and Sherry Eggnog to guests at his bar, Pacific Standard, in Portland, Oregon. For this episode, Morgenthaler reflects on how he arrived at his recipe, and he shares some tips for making excellent eggnog at home.

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Paul Clarke

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Radio Imbibe from Imbibe magazine. I’m Paul Clarke, Imbibe’s editor in chief. And I’ve got to say, I’m in a pretty good mood right now. There are a few reasons for that. But chief among them is the fact that we’re smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, which is always one of my favorite times of year. And what with all the feasting and celebrations and taking a little time away for friends and family, we get to throw in another seasonal favorite of mine right on top of everything, and that’s the opportunity to indulge in a few tasty, fun holiday-appropriate drinks along the way. 

There are many drinks being assembled at this time of year to go along with the holiday season, and probably none are as iconic as that ever popular, occasionally polarizing drink: eggnog. Eggnog has been a part of holiday celebrations in the United States for more than 200 years, and for good reason. It’s creamy, it’s rich, it’s sweet, it’s indulgent. And of course, it’s also usually packed with spirits and wines. Perhaps no contemporary bartender is as synonymous with eggnog as Jeffrey Morgenthaler. 

Jeff’s the co-owner of Pacific Standard in Portland, Oregon, where today he’s serving the tequila and sherry eggnog that he made into a modern classic while working in his previous bar gig at Clyde Common. Jeff has freely posted that eggnog recipe on his website, jeffreymorgenthaler.com, and we’ve also got it up for you on our website, imbibemagazine.com. And beyond those online examples, it’s also popped up in homes and bars all across the country and probably around the world by now.

So for this episode, in celebration of the holiday season and all the great stuff that comes with it, we’re taking a deep dive into eggnog. And maybe that’s not the greatest visual to put out there for you, but you know what I mean. So listen close and get ready to put together a shopping list to make up a batch yourself in the days ahead, as we talk about recipes, history, and best eggnog practices with Jeffrey Morgenthaler. 

[music]

Paul Clarke

Jeff, welcome to Radio Imbibe. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Hi, Paul. 

Paul Clarke

It’s so good to see you. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

It’s great to see you. 

Paul Clarke

Yeah. And, you know, first of all, happy holidays. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Thank you. You, too.

Paul Clarke

We’re in the holiday season here. And, you know, I’ve got my tree up already. The decorations are out and I wanted to have you on the podcast for an episode in December, because it’s impossible to talk about the holiday season without talking about ways that you can celebrate it with a drink in hand. And it’s impossible to talk about holiday drinks without bringing up eggnog 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yep.

Paul Clarke

In one way or another, you’ve become one of the reigning princes of eggnog with the version you previously served at Clyde Common in Portland, and now serve at your place Pacific Standard, also in Portland, Oregon. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yep. 

Paul Clarke

And this version has traveled far and wide into a number of different bars and a number of different households over the course of the holiday season. So we want to talk to you about eggnog. Before we get into that, are you okay with me referring to you as the reigning prince of eggnog? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

[laughter] If that’s what you want to do, Paul, I’m never going to say no to you. I might not love it, but I’m never going to say no. How could I say no to that face? 

Paul Clarke

Right. You know, we all gather these reputations over the course of our paths through life. And this is one that you’re going to have. But it’s a good one. It’s a good thing to have. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I’ll take it. I love eggnog, so I’ll take it. 

Paul Clarke

Now, before we get into the current recipe that you’re making, can we take a step back and talk about eggnog, and you? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. 

Paul Clarke

Eggnog can be a divisive drink. You know, some people can’t stand it. I happen to love it. But for you, when did the eggnog bug bite? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I mean, when I was a little kid, right? And mom would bring home eggnog from the grocery store in the carton, you know, that was it. You know, it’s like I love dairy. I love milk. So this is like, sweet spiced milk. It was, like, even thicker than milk. And I just  loved it. This was like in the seventies, you know, and all through, like, growing up. And then, you know, I didn’t even know that it was an alcoholic beverage. I thought it just was like something you got in a carton. 

Paul Clarke

Right.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

And then you know, I started getting into cocktails and stuff like that and learned, you know, that eggnog was an alcoholic beverage. And I think my earliest experience probably involved me just putting alcohol into store bought eggnog. 

Paul Clarke

Right. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Right. Who hasn’t done that? 

Paul Clarke

Right, exactly. You know, I remember as a teenager when my dad would finally, like, let me put booze in eggnog, when my mom wasn’t around, it was like E and J brandy or something. I thought, Oh, God, that’s disgusting. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. 

Paul Clarke

You know, and, you know, a carton of Lucerne eggnog from Safeway. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Mm. Yeah, totally. 

Paul Clarke

Yeah, yeah. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

You know, and I, you know, I started. I started looking at recipes. This is like in the probably the late nineties when I was still just a like a beer bartender. I started looking at recipes from home. But like, I didn’t really know about cocktail books. I just knew about the cocktail section in the back of the Joy of Cooking in the back of the, you know, the red checkered books, the Better Homes & Gardens book. Like all the old cookbooks that I had, you know, those like sort of party planning tips, cocktail, you know, there were always like 10 cocktails in there. And that usually, you know, depending on the age of the book, a lot of them were kind of bad.

My first, I think, the first eggnog that I made were the those versions where they separate the eggs. And then, you know, beat the egg whites into stiff peaks and then creamed the yolks with sugar and then fold them into each. So you had this, like, big fluffy, you know, in my mind, kind of silly version of eggnog. I feel like that kind of replicates the store-bought version, but it isn’t what I was looking for in a drink. I mean, it was like drinking, like a thing of ice cream. Melted ice cream.

Paul Clarke

It’s like batter.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

It’s like batter.

Paul Clarke

It’s like you’re making, you know, if you’re making waffles, great, but, you know, if you’re trying to put it into a mug and drink it, then you need a spoon. And you really start to think about it too much at that point. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, and then you start doing a little bit more research and you look at the early, you know, you start you find the Jerry Thomas guide and you find some of those early eggnog recipes and you realize that an eggnog is just a flip with the addition of cream. You know? 

Paul Clarke

Right, Right. I think it’s fascinating because also, you know, so we’re talking about this at the holidays and eggnog has been a part of the holiday celebrations for over 200 years. And yes, I looked that up at one point. And it should be pointed out that back in the olden days, you know, it wasn’t just a holiday thing. Eggnog was just something that you had. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Totally.

Paul Clarke

Because it was delicious. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

A delicious drink. 

Paul Clarke

It had, you know, richness and it was tasty and then it was rich and everything. But also, you know, it used to be pretty much anything could go into eggnog. Brandy and rum are the classics. Sure. Absolutely. Whiskey. Why not? Madeira? Cider? Go for it. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Go for it.

Paul Clarke

All of that kind of stuff came into it. If I remember correctly, many, many years ago on your blog, you had listed a recipe that had, I think, aged excuse me, spiced rum and cognac, if I’m remembering that correctly. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

That was my first one. Yeah. 

Paul Clarke

Mm hmm. What was that? Your original favorite? Was that the one that you landed on and–

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I loved it, Captain Morgan. And I can remember if I did. I was thinking about it this morning before we got on this call. I think that the original original might have been Presidente brandy,  Mexican brandy.

Paul Clarke

Okay. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Which I was. I was sort of, like, mildly obsessed with, you know, back then, the brandy section back in the early two thousands at the store was not large. 

Paul Clarke

Right. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

So, Presidente. 

Paul Clarke

And it goes hand in hand with the Captain Morgan, you know. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Totally. 

Paul Clarke

So. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Totally. Yeah. But that was my first was that was the spiced rum and brandy recipe. And, you know, I didn’t separate the eggs. That was like the big difference between my recipe and a lot of those recipes and you know, I always say that I’m lazy, but I like things that taste good. So I’m going to find the best, the most delicious way to do something in the with the least amount of work. 

Paul Clarke

Right. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I mean, you know, flavor and texture are paramount. But taking shortcuts, once you achieve perfect flavor and texture, taking a shortcut is fine as long as the flavor and texture remain. 

Paul Clarke

Yeah. It’s one thing to make something and to say that’s delicious, I’m never going to do that again. And that was such a pain in the butt. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Right? 

Paul Clarke

Yeah. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

My arm is so sore from beating eggs, whole eggs and drizzling in sugar so that the sugar dissolves in the eggs. Why don’t I just use a blender for this? 

Paul Clarke

Right. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

And that was the big thing that people first, like sat up and like took notice of was the fact that I was running a blender on low speed to lightly beat those eggs and incorporate the sugar into it. And that was like, you know, that that was when it got picked up by like The New York Times and all that kind of stuff, because it was like, here’s something different and easy. 

Paul Clarke

Sure. Well, I want to get into technique in a moment but before we get there, let’s talk about the recipe that you landed on however many years ago now at Clyde Common, where you’re using tequila and sherry. And that’s the version that you’re now serving at Pacific Standard. When did you land on that and what was the kind of process of discovery for you where you said, Aha, that’s it. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah, I’d been serving that spiced rum and brandy eggnog in Eugene, a college town, about a hundred miles south of here for years at my bars and it was very, very popular. And then I get the call to move up to Portland and take over Clyde Common, which was just like, you know, Portland’s like cool restaurant darling at the time and for a long time.

And I started that first year. I started in January of 2009 and near the end of the year, I started thinking about eggnog. And I felt like if I put a Captain Morgan and Presidente brandy eggnog on the menu at this very cool bar that specializes in American whiskey and amaro, which seems pretty standard these days, but was like very ahead of its time back when I started, that they would run me out of town. Right. Like if I showed up with a Captain Morgan and Mexican brandy eggnog. They were running me out of town.

So I had this idea to do like an eggnog of the week all through the holidays. And, you know, I had all these ideas sketched out for, like, a Cynar eggnog and a Manhattan eggnog with Antica Formula and bourbon. And like a killer sherry eggnog. I just started throwing together all these, like, ideas and pairings together. And the first one that I started with was, anejo tequila and amontillado sherry. And just in that first week, people freaked out so hard. I was like, I can’t. I can never take this off there. I’m not doing any of these other eggnog, like this is, you know, these people are going to riot in the streets if I don’t have the tequila sherry eggnog. And it’s been on my menu ever since December of 2009. 

Paul Clarke

Right, right. And so. So you’ve been doing that since 2009. In a year like now, how much do you go through in a holiday season? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Okay. So we ran the numbers right before the holidays. And last year we did 48 gallons. 

Paul Clarke

Wow.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Wow. 

Paul Clarke

That’s a lot of eggnog, man.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah.

Paul Clarke

It’s the kind of thing where, like, you know, I don’t think I can even, like, visualize 48 gallons of eggnog. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Well, you know, just like, we don’t store it in this, but just picture one of those big blue Lake barrels, you know, it’s that. It’s that size. 

Paul Clarke

Right. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

We just started like, I think we started Sunday of last week, so we’d been at it for like a week and two days and I’ve personally made 10 gallons. I think my bar manager has made I think she made two. So we’re probably at 12 gallons so far. It’s insane. 

Paul Clarke

Right. Right. Now, you started to talk about technique just a minute ago. And because with eggnog, unlike making a martini or a negroni where you’re just pouring stuff from a bottle into a glass with some ice, really to make eggnog, you’ve got to break some eggs, and you need to go to the dairy aisle. When you think about the non-booze ingredients to start off with, what are some of the best practices you’ve found over the years in terms of purchasing and handling and getting prepared for this? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. In terms of non booze ingredients, you know, the better the quality ingredients, the better the drink is going to be. This is a drink that doesn’t just rely on booze. There’s so much more, so using the best local, freshest eggs you can find is key. Finding the best dairy is key. If you’ve got access to a store that kind of specializes in local farmers, I mean, I’m such a dairy guy. Like I know that sort of flavor profiles of a lot of the different like, you know, producers around here. I know what I like and don’t like in general and especially in my eggnog. And then using the right texture of sugar is really key. Granulated. You can make it work, but it’s a lot easier with superfine or baker’s sugar, not powdered sugar, but baker’s sugar.

Paul Clarke

Right. Right. Because not only is it the texture, but that whole kind of dissolves in the liquid. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

It dissolves easier. That’s yeah. I mean, you’re not going to taste the texture of the sugar in the final product, hopefully, because it’s going to be fully incorporated. But using that finer texture sugar does dissolve much more easily because you’re dissolving it into eggs. So you really got to go slow and low and use a fine grain sugar like that. 

Paul Clarke

Right. And, you know, like you said, this really is the time of year when you want to go to the special store and go to the expensive aisle 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah.

Paul Clarke

For the eggs and for the dairy. You know, you’re going to be serving this to people, serving it to friends. And you really want it to shine. So you know, spend an extra couple of bucks on the good bottle of cream and the good eggs. Now, let’s talk about the actual assembly. Walk us through how you’re actually making this from start to finish.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

So I start with a, if I’m doing just a small serving, there’s both on my website, there’s a gallon version and there’s smaller version that’s, I don’t know, probably less than a pint, maybe it’s a pint, kind of for two to four people. If you’re doing a small version, a blender on the very lowest possible setting works really well. If you’re doing a big version, I use a stand mixer in the lowest possible setting and just get those eggs completely uniform.

You know, you don’t want to see any like striations of whites or anything in those eggs. You want them just to be that just that beautiful, perfect, like kind of mustard yellow color. And once they’ve come together like that, then I just slowly start adding that superfine sugar in there to make sure that I’m giving it enough time to become incorporated into the eggs as they’re spinning around.

And then from there I just start with the lower proof ingredients and work my way up to the higher proof. I’m doing that because the lower proof is going to have a little bit more water. Sugar dissolves better in water than it does in alcohol. So I’m just going to just to make sure that the sugar is completely incorporated. I’ll start with the sherry and just kind of drizzle that in and then just finish with the tequila. And while it’s still spinning, I hit it with the milk and then finish with the cream. I always finish with the cream so that it doesn’t get too beaten.

I’m just trying to keep this stuff from getting like fluffy, like I don’t think it’s, I don’t love fluffy eggnog. I like this version, which is just like light and kind of silky smooth and not like drinking a melted marshmallow. It’s like drinking a drink. 

Paul Clarke

Right. And as you noted a couple of times, it’s worth emphasizing, time is really your friend here. Let the process work. Don’t try to rush, let the let the eggs come together as they do. Let the sugar dissolve as it does. Don’t try to rush it because time, it’s going to pay off. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Oh, for sure. And, you know, speaking of time, like, I do that a day or two before I’m going to serve it, you know? So, like Thanksgiving, when I do Thanksgiving at home, I’ll make the eggnog on Sunday and let it sit in the fridge. I’ll even strain it through a fine strainer just to make sure there’s like no last minute kind of egg strands that are going to sort of upset people with their texture and put it in a bottle and let it sit and just kind of like you know, those flavors are going to meld and just get better and better and better with a few days. it’s great a la minute, but it’s life changing after a few days in the fridge. 

Paul Clarke

Right, right. And, you know, for some people, understandably, there is a food safety question with regard to raw eggs, which we should probably address. How does a good eggnog recipe address that? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

You know, proof is a big thing. You know, alcohol does kill lots, if you if you are one of those people that that needs to sort of watch. I talked to a guy last night that said he had typhoid a few years ago and he can’t have raw eggs anymore. He just can’t, and asked me what he should do. And I told him to go get the pasteurized, like sort of liquid eggs from the restaurant supply place, you know, not like the egg beaters, not the sort of like low cholesterol, edited stuff that you might get at Safeway, but like some really good whole eggs that have been completely homogenized and pasteurized. I would do that if you’re if you’re concerned at all about safety.

Paul Clarke

And it comes up. You know, I teach a holiday drinks class every year here in Seattle, and, you know, it always comes up with talking about food safety. And ultimately, like, if you have a guest who has, you know, a compromised immune system or any kind of health issues like that, have some extra champagne on hand or something.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Totally.

Paul Clarke

You know, you don’t want to risk it. But, like you say, if you use really good quality, really fresh ingredients and you know, the appropriate amount of booze in there, you’re going to take care of most people. It’s going to be pretty good for most people. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Totally. 

Paul Clarke

And you said you’re batching this up in advance. You let it sit for a couple of days. Anything in terms of the timing, you know, is there due date or an expiration date when you stick that in the fridge? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

You know, it’s so funny. We had some leftover, you know, over the years at Clyde. We would always end up with, you know, kind of at the end of the holidays because, because, you know, on January 1st, you can’t give eggnog away and nobody’s touching it. And so we always end up with some leftovers because we didn’t plan well enough, hopefully not too much leftover. We would store it in the walk in. And it last year we had a small library of different eggnog over the years that we could taste. And they were all, they were all beautiful. Like, it just doesn’t, it doesn’t go bad when it’s refrigerated like that. There’s enough alcohol that it preserves everything in there and it’s delicious. 

Paul Clarke

Eggnog. You know, it’s like walking into one of those cognac houses in France where the date is chalked on the side of the barrel. I can imagine your eggnog library like that. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. It was more, it was more, you know, painter’s masking tape. But yeah. 

Paul Clarke

And, you know, one other thing I just want to touch on. On your technique. You’re talking about doing the blender at the lowest setting. It’s especially worth keeping in mind if you’re using something like a Vitamix, that gets hot. I mean, like, you can make soup in a Vitamix.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

You can scramble those eggs if you run it hot. 

Paul Clarke

Yeah, yeah. And generally you want to avoid that when you’re making eggnog. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yes. I don’t like eggnog that’s been heated. I know there are some recipes out there that call for sort of tempering the eggs or turning it into some sort of custard. But I think fresh, fresh is better.

Paul Clarke

Right. Are there any other best practices you’ve come across or you’d like to share on eggnog. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Grating fresh nutmeg on top when you serve it. And that is the, that is really the icing. That’s the thing that really makes eggnog shine. It’s in, it’s like a flip, right? I mean, without the nutmeg, a flip is just eggs, sugar and alcohol, which is like not super appetizing. 

Paul Clarke

Mm hmm. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

But once you put that nutmeg on there, the whole thing just sings.

Paul Clarke

All right. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Get a whole nutmeg clove and a cheap grater, microplane, and grate it on top. And it’s just going to, put it in a cold glass. It’s going to change your life. 

Paul Clarke

Right. Right. We’re heading toward the end here. Are there any final bits of eggnog wisdom you’d like to share? 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Everybody should drink more eggnog. 

Paul Clarke

Everybody should drink more eggnog.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I’m an evangelist for eggnog.

Paul Clarke

Yeah. I’m doing my part, man. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Paul, I appreciate you. 

Paul Clarke

Jeff, thanks so much for taking the time to chat and share your perspective. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Thanks, Paul. 

Paul Clarke

And your expertise. I appreciate it very much. And happy holidays, my friend. 

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

You, too, my friend. Happy holidays. 

Paul Clarke

Cheers. 

[music]

Paul Clarke

You can find Jeff’s eggnog recipe and plenty of other info and fun stuff to drink on his website, jeffreymorgenthaler.com. 

And before we head for the exits, I should note that Radio Imbibe is taking a short holiday break in the weeks ahead. But we’ll be back with new episodes for you in the New Year, starting January 2nd. 

In the meantime, we’ve got all your holiday cocktail needs covered on our website at imbibemagazine.com. Be sure to subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with future episodes. Be sure to also check us out on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Threads for all your social media needs. And if you’re not already a subscriber to the print and or digital issues of Imbibe, then here is your opportunity to get on board with that for the New Year. Just follow the link in this episode’s notes and we’ll be happy to help you out. 

I’m Paul Clarke. This is Radio Imbibe. Happy holidays, everybody. I’ll catch you next time.