Egg nog showdown

I happen to be a lover of egg nog. Those who know me well understand that this can be a tad of an inconvenience for my health when it hits the shelves in early November. This is typically the time of year when I go off of my regular, one cup of morning coffee and switch to espresso mixed with a full cup of steamed egg nog. It beats any egg nog-flavored latte your favorite coffee shop sells, but also adds about 15 lbs come January. SO, this year I've been much better about saving this little indulgence for rare occasions.

I wanted to know, though, when I do indulge, which brand provides the ultimate egg nog flavor? So I set out to compare. Classic AE brand, made right here in Des Moines, Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy's egg nog, made in Guthrie Center Iowa and Picket Fence Creamery's egg nog, made in Woodward, Iowa.

(*I omitted the Trader Joe's brand because one year I stocked up on 5 cartons of their brand egg nog at the end of the season when Hy-Vee had no AE left on their shelves, and on first taste found it to be absolutely disgusting. All cartons went straight down the drain.
**I inadvertently omitted the Organic Valley brand, which is sad because I had it recently and it was delicious. It would be nice to compare it directly with the others. Still, the ones I have here are all made in Iowa, so I'd probably omit it for that reason alone in the end anyway.)

Sight:   AE's is definitely the most yellow, and the thinnest. Still has bubbles after pouring while the others poured smooth and thick. Sheeder's is very light in color, while Picket Fence's looks quite brown and full of spices. Both Sheeder's and Picket Fence's are quite thick and stick to the sides of the glass when swirled much longer than the AE.

Scent:  AE smells sweet, but not overpowering. Sheeder's smells sweet but also very milky, and dairy-laden. Picket Fence has a sweet, custard smell. Very custardy smelling indeed. 

Taste:  AE has a heavy sweet taste on the tongue that leaves a sugary aftertaste after swallowing.   Sheeder's has a milk/cream forward taste, and the sweetness pops up more after swallowing than when it's in your mouth. It's eggy tasting, but mostly a sweet milky egg, not much spice. The sweetness is less overt and overpowering than AE's.  Finally, the Picket Fence version is the spiciest. It's when when you first drink it, but the strong spice--mostly nutmeg but also some other spice tastes pop out, too--is immensely enjoyable, and gives it more character than the Sheeder's. 

Winner: Picket Fence. I wanted to pick Sheeder's because it comes housed in a returnable glass bottle, which I like quite a bit. But for flavor, the Picket Fence Creamery egg not is superb. In an egg nog pinch, though, I'd buy any of them ;)