Milk wine vs eggnog

Eggnog is built on eggs, milk, cream and sugar, flavoured with nutmeg and vanilla and laced with rum, brandy or bourbon. The eggs and cream give body, and every ingredient stays in the glass. The result is rich, filling and closer to a drinkable custard than a liqueur.

Milk wine starts with spirit rather than dairy. A bottle of arrack is steeped with lime peel and spices, sweetened with sugar and caramel, and sharpened with citrus juice before hot milk is poured in. There are no eggs and no cream, and the milk is there to be transformed and removed.

The spices overlap a little, since both may use vanilla and nutmeg. Milk wine adds cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, all grown in Sri Lanka, and its citrus gives it a brightness that eggnog does not have.

Eggnog is a mixing job. The eggs are beaten with sugar, the milk and cream are stirred in, sometimes gently heated, and the spirit is added. It is usually made a day or less before serving, and kept cold.

Milk wine is a separating job. The hot milk curdles in the acidic, alcoholic mixture, the pot rests for hours, and the curds are strained out through muslin until the liquid runs clear. The process takes days, and the bottles rest for weeks.

The methods explain everything that follows. Eggnog keeps its dairy and is rich, opaque and perishable. Milk wine removes its dairy and is light, clear and stable, which is why a bottle can sit on a sideboard through the holidays.

Eggnog is creamy, heavy and mild, with nutmeg on top and the spirit as a warm background. A glass is a treat but also a small meal. It coats the mouth and is usually served chilled.

Milk wine is silky but light. It tastes of caramel, citrus peel and warm spice over a mellow arrack base, and it finishes clean. At roughly 15 to 20 per cent alcohol it is usually stronger than a home eggnog, which is why it comes in a much smaller glass.

People who find eggnog too rich often enjoy milk wine, while those who love eggnog's creaminess may find milk wine surprisingly thin. Both work best alongside something baked.

Eggnog is ladled from a bowl or poured from a jug into cups, often chilled and sometimes warmed. It is a party drink, made in quantity for one occasion and finished quickly because of the eggs and cream.

Milk wine is poured from a bottle into small liqueur glasses at room temperature, one glass for each guest as they arrive. It accompanies Christmas cake, love cake or breudher, and the same bottle may serve visitors for days.

Keeping is the biggest practical difference. A well-strained bottle of milk wine keeps for months, and many families make a batch in late November and finish it in the New Year. Eggnog is a drink of the day.

Eggnog is not a Sri Lankan tradition, and you will not find it in family homes at Christmas. Some international hotels in Colombo and on the coast serve eggnog on Christmas Eve or at festive buffets for overseas guests, alongside mince pies and Christmas pudding.

Sri Lanka's own Christmas drinks are milk wine, home-made ginger wine and fruit wines, served with the island's dense Christmas cake. For a visitor, these are the drinks that tell you something about the place, and they are much more interesting than a familiar mug of nog.

Lankan Stays & Trails can point December travellers towards Colombo and Negombo, where milk wine, ginger wine and Christmas cake are sold together at church fairs and by home bakers.

If you are in Sri Lanka at Christmas, choose milk wine. It is the local tradition, it is offered in homes as a sign of welcome, and it pairs perfectly with Sri Lankan Christmas cake.

If you want to bring the idea home, milk wine is also the easier drink to make ahead and give as a gift, because it keeps and travels in a sealed bottle.