Egg whites make a drink rich and delicious. A properly shaken egg white cocktail like a Whiskey Sour or a Pisco Sour is smooth, satisfying, and rich in a way that it wouldn’t be without the egg.
But why stop at the egg white? Long before cocktails could be found in cans and nearly every bar, people were mixing whole eggs into alcohol for a hearty cocktail. It was popular with thirsty English sailors, for example. They would mix local ale, molasses, rum, and eggs in a pitcher. The contents would be poured into another pitcher, back and forth, until they were combined. The concoction was then heated over a stove. Colonial Americans took the drink and stirred it with a heated iron rod instead of using a stove, because America. The result was a strong, cooked-egg cocktail.
A modern day version exists that ditches the beer and molasses but keeps the entire delicious egg. This is what’s known as a flip. The first instance of a flip without the beer was in 1874, according to PUNCH. In the book “The American Bar-Tender: Or, the Art and Mystery of Mixing Drinks,” a cocktail is described that uses a whole egg, sugar, and brandy or gin. It’s shaken and garnished with nutmeg.
Don't Miss A Drop
Get the latest in beer, wine, and cocktail culture sent straight to your inbox.A modern flip can be made with any type of liquor. The Sherry Flip is one of the most well known, but don’t leave out whiskey, gin, and the original rum. VinePair has an original recipe using mezcal called the Strawberry Mezcal Flip.
As for the egg? Don’t worry too much about getting salmonella. Just like with egg white cocktails, the risk of getting sick is very low. If you’re concerned, however, flips might not be for you.
For the rest of us, it’s time to give the whole egg a chance.
