Eyes of Newt, Blind Worm's Sting, and Figgy Pudding

I like to eat.
I like to drink.

There, I said it.
I have tendencies toward gluttony, but I do believe that God made food delicious out of His providential love for us.

One of the things* I love about the holiday season - and I do mean the holiday season, not Christmas, but this entire part of the year, is the availability at not too great a cost, of food and drink in which one might not ordinarily indulge, in which one might not be able to indulge.

I don't roast a turkey, but I am very glad others in my family do. Mulled wine? what a treat! The supermarket has, for a short time, a luscious Red Leicester for only a few pennies more than a block of generic American cheese. And don't get me started on the glory that is a well made and well-seasoned fruitcake, (if your experiences have only led you to think that fruitcake is a brick-like joke of a food, I bemoan your deprivation, and pity your ignorance.)

One of the things I love about the foods of festivity is that they often merely require a little extra care, one unaccustomed technique, an unlikely combination of relatively every-day ingredients, or a single out-of-the-ordinary foodstuff.

The same goes for drinks - a drop of cassis transports a mediocre white wine, for instance.

But having said all that,  really....  what is one to make of ingredient lists such as these?allspice dram, honey syrup, amaro, Mezcal, bitters of Turin, Black Walnut Bitters, brown butter washed whisky?(not that almost everything doesn't taste better when browned butter is involved...)
I mean, I'm a lover of sissy drinks, but com'on - I'm not even all these ingredients actually exist.

Although not long ago I would have thought maple-bacon flavored liqueur was imaginary, too.


*I actually made a list, ranking them, in order to more intelligently be able to discuss "the reason for the season" with my CCD kids. The groaning board and exotic beverages was in seventh place.