Maybe it's the fact that I work in science, but I do love Alton Brown and his approach to all things culinary. His sometimes prop-heavy explanations why things are happening in the kitchen (check the popcorn episode of Good Eats) and his precision in ingredients as well as description make Good Eats one of my all time favorite cooking shows. I've made a couple of his recipes before and when I stumbled upon a recipe for aged eggnog, I got intrigued although I'm usually not a big fan of said beverage.

His version, however, heavy on booze and egg yolks, promised to be different, simply by the fact that the beverage is aged in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks to mellow it out. In the past I wasn't very fond of the brew, mostly because I only had the booze-free store variety.

I only made some minor changes to the recipe. I've substituted brown sugar for parts of the granulated sugar for a deeper caramel color and flavor. I'm aware that this might not be what you're looking for in eggnog, but I loved it. This eggnog makes a perfect pairing for all kinds of Christmas treats, like my Ausstecherle (Butter Cookies) or Zimtsterne and is apparently also pretty good as creamer in your cup of coffee.