It’s eggnog season. The alcoholic drink dates back to medieval England but remains a holiday hit

The process usually begins in late January, just after the previous year’s celebrations have ended. Nearly a thousand egg yolks, gallons and gallons of heavy cream and about $1,000 worth of vanilla beans are mixed with sugar and a mega-cocktail of sherry, brandy and aged rum. The concoction is then stored at 34 degrees Fahrenheit and is shaken weekly for months.

Is it worth the wait? Customer Phil Kenny seems to think so.

“It’s a wonderful specialty drink,” Kenny said of Scoma’s recipe, which has been perfected in recent years to take advantage of the alcoholic beverage’s aging process. “It takes eggnog to a different level.”

Kenny and his wife, Laurie, aren’t the only ones enjoying it this year.

“A drink that you kind of associate with Grandma and Grandpa during the holidays has become a cult drink here,” Gordon Drysdale, Scoma’s culinary director, said earlier this month. “We never anticipated that people would actually be mad at us for not having it.

Eggnog’s roots date back to medieval England and a drink called “posset,” which included hot milk or cream, alcohol and spices. Recipes have evolved over the centuries, and dairy-free and alcohol-free options have abounded in recent years. But some – like the formula for the famous eggnog daiquiri at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop in New Orleans – stay the same and remain secret.

“I like to say it’s a little bit of Christmas magic,” said Jamie Gourges, marketing director of the outdoor bar in the city’s iconic French Quarter. “We don’t give away any of our recipes at any point but it’s delicious.”

Gourges will say, however, that theirs is made every morning right after Thanksgiving until Three Kings Day, also known as Epiphany, on January 6. It’s a tradition that dates back about 20 years in a facility built in the early 1700s. Naturally, it is haunted by French pirate and privateer Jean Lafitte, who based his smuggling operations near New Orleans.

Terry Wittmer, who lives in the Big Easy, is a regular customer and loves holiday parties at the bar.

“It tastes like Christmas. It’s a bit cinnamony. It’s sweet and if you drink it too quickly you risk brain freeze,” Wittmer said. “I live a block away so I’m here every day but I’m happiest at Christmas.”

Even for tourists who come to sample the bar’s signature “purpledrink” daiquiri, the holiday drink is a draw.

“It’ll be no problem coming down, let’s put it that way,” said Cheryl Abrigo, of Florida, sipping hers.

Smith reported from New Orleans and Dazio from Los Angeles.

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