Taste Yule love
Holiday beverage competition brings out Arkansas chefs
Historic Arkansas Museum may have to move its annual Nog-Off from its lobby to a larger venue. The “15th Ever” contest, in which restaurants, other local businesses and individuals compete for eggnog supremacy, took place Dec. 13 and drew so many guests that at one point, the line extended out the door and all the way to the light at Third and Cumberland streets in Little Rock.
Guests tasted, and voted on, the various eggnogs, and were rewarded with the telltale red “Got Nog” stickers. As the event took place on Second Friday Art Night, attendees also had the opportunity to go to the second floor to hear MarQuis & MOOD play and enjoy light hors d’oeuvres.
Celebrity tasters/judges were Ashlei King of KLRT-TV, Kevin Shalin of The Mighty Rib and Rusty Mathis of Ben E. Keith Foods MidSouth. Making up a panel of “emerging tasters” were Rhett Booher, Tess Kramer and Mary Olive Smith.
Among the competitors emerging victorious was the Marriott Hotel. It earned the People’s Choice Award for its Brown Sugar Bourbon Nog, described by a voter as a “delicious spin on a traditional nog; tastes like Christmas in a cup!” Capturing the Taster’s Choice Award, voted on by the panel of celebrity tasters, was South on Main for its BootlegNog. South on Main also won the Egg, No Nog Award – the best nonalcoholic eggnog, voted on by the emerging tasters — it “has a great ratio of egg versus whatever nog is,” one voter remarked. And the Capital Hotel, with its nontraditional Banana Rum Eggnog, came away with the Not Your Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Eggnog Award, also voted on by guests.
Also competing were Loblolly Creamery, Arkansas Pioneers Association, Mocktail Mo, Stone’s Throw Brewing, The Pizzeria and The Root Cafe. But all competitors could have been counted as winners in this popular event.