Weird Booze History – “What do you want, an egg in your beer?”

Standing around the kitchen when we were in Denver for Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law asks me out of nowhere if I know anything about putting a raw egg in beer. At the time, I didn’t.

My first thought was “like in Rocky?” but then I remembered that’s just a pure breakfast shake. I said then that I thought it would make a great blog, and, after research, I think I was right.

I tried it today, as a recovery drink to a nice bike ride, so now I’m fully prepared to talk about this weird piece of booze history.

Let’s dive in.

Where Did The Drink Come From?

Short answer: a simplification of a flip. A flip is a class of cocktail (like a buck or martini) with nautical roots (likely the British navy, specifically). The overall idea, at the time, was frothy rum and they achieved that in a few different ways.

By the time the drink was formalized in the legendary Bon Vivant’s Companion, it was pretty much indistinguishable from what we would recognize today as eggnog. Over time, the distinction was codified by the presence of cream (cream makes it a nog rather than a flip). 

Where, exactly, the hard booze and spices got lost and replaced only with beer doesn’t seem to be recorded. Certainly by the early 1900s, it was happening in working-class bars in Seattle (and other places I’m sure, but this makes sense given Seattle’s history).

The idea seems to have risen to prominence leading up to and during World War II, but that seems to be primarily as an idiom rather than as literal drinking habits of GIs. 

What About the Idiom?

“Egg in your beer” as phrase, rather than a drink, generally denotes getting something for nothing or having/asking for too much of a good thing.

For the WWII context, this makes a lot of sense – both eggs and beer were relatively-hard-to-come-by for soldiers, so combining the two would be asking for an awful lot. There are also references to other working-class slang uses with similar effect.

I actually like the expression, because it makes sense and will almost certainly elicit a fun reaction to whoever you address.

The immediate question, for anyone who doesn’t have the context, will probably be something along the lines of “wait, does that suck, or is it actually awesome?” I’m here to answer the question you didn’t know you had.

How Does It Taste?

I have bad news for anyone expecting a real hot take here: unfortunately, this tastes pretty much like a beer on nitro rather than traditional draft (think Guiness, if you’re not familiar).

The egg thickens the beer significantly, and the sugar (and idea I found on Reddit when researching that seems to be based in South America) doesn’t do much of anything at all.

The biggest difference is the added frothiness that sticks around long after the standard head would be gone. It’s a little weird, but mostly I was just drinking a thicker Rainier. 

Further Testing Required…

If I would have used one of the dark, seasonal beers or an IPA in the fridge instead of trusty Vitamin R, this could be a very different blog. If I had used more/less sugar, this could be a very different blog. If I had scrambled the egg in the glass rather than adding it scrambled, this could be a very different blog. 

This could be awesome in some applications and awful in others. In this case, it was mostly “meh.” It certainly worked to add some density to my post-ride beer, which was appreciated, so maybe I’ll keep testing this.

I do know that this has certainly inspired me to make a flip and a nog side-by-side before Christmas… Stay tuned.