- 500 ml dark beer like brown ale, porter, or stout
- 75 ml dark rum
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 large eggs
Heat the beer in a pan until simmering. Do not boil. Whisk the eggs in a pint glass. In a second one mix the rum and molasses then stir the warm beer in. Pour this onto the eggs. Pour the drink back and forward between the two glasses several times from a good height. This is intended to make it smooth and foamy. Decant into pewter tankards or mugs. Grate fresh nutmeg over the top. Drink while still hot.
Dating back to the American Colonists of the early 18th century, this was known as a sailor’s drink, made aboard the long voyage, heated with a red hot poker. If you have one to hand while sitting by the fire, this is still the preferred way to go. It will impart something special to the drink, though in the sailors’ case it may have been the taste of ship’s tar that the poker was there for. Mix all the ingredients in a heatproof vessel then stir with the red hot poker, straight from the fire. Reheat the poker and repeat until the drink is hot and foamy. Drunk Christmas revellers with a red hot poker – what could possibly go wrong?