The oft used phrase “somebody has gotten into the eggnog” implies that someone has drunk too much alcohol. Yet the eggnog varieties we see on grocery store shelves during the festive season have no alcohol at all.
For the uninitiated, traditional eggnog is made with milk, cream, sugar, whipped egg whites, egg yokes and a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon. Some like to add liquor to the drink for added flavour and effect.
Canadian dairy producers typically don’t make any eggnog during the early summer months, but production ramps up in the fall with sales peaking in December, which is of course the prime eggnog-drinking season. Dairy producers also make smaller batches of eggnog for the Easter holidays.
Commercial sales of eggnog fell 17.3% from a year earlier to 10,408 kilolitres in 2021, the lowest level of sales since 2017.
Whiskey, rum and brandy are the most popular alcohols to “spike” an eggnog, but the sales of these spirits were decidedly mixed at the end of the fiscal year in March 2021.
Canadian whiskey distillers had plenty of good cheer in 2020/2021, when sales topped $1 billion for the first time ever with 31.6 million litres sold.
Conversely, domestic rum sales fell to a record low 18.4 million litres, with sales down by over one-quarter from a decade earlier.
Canadian brandy sales rose 1.9% year over year to 700 000 litres at the end of the 2020/2021 fiscal year, but were down by one-third from a decade earlier.
To learn more about eggnog and other dairy products, check out the release Dairy statistics.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).