The other night I came home from work and relaxed with a glass of steaming hot beer. Mulled ale is mulled wine’s lesser-known-but-no-less-delicious cousin, and it’s perfect for a cozy evening indoors.

This was my first attempt at mulling ale myself, so I looked up a few recipes online and adapted them to my taste. Here’s the recipe I used, which I should point out was only marginally successful:

• 2 500ml bottles of real ale
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp sugar

1.  Put the beer in a saucepan and add the spices.

2.  Heat the beer on low to medium heat – it shouldn’t get to a boil.

3.  Separate the egg and the yolk in a separate bowl – you only need the yolk.

4.  Add the sugar to the yolk and whisk until combined.

5.  Temper the yolk by adding a few tablespoons of hot beer to the mixture and mixing thoroughly. This is to prevent the egg yolk from scrambling when you add it to the saucepan.

6.  Add the yolk mixture to the beer and heat for another 5 minutes.

7.  Add the honey and stir. If the egg has scrambled, strain before serving.

Though I tempered the egg mixture as the recipes suggested, the egg curdled anyway, possibly because I turned the heat up too high. When I attempted to sieve out the egg bits using a strainer, I accidentally poured half the beer down the sink. Then I tried straining the beer through a coffee filter, but the slow drip was driving me crazy so I switched to a paper towel. This worked slightly better, but I went through half a dozen of them while trying to fill one glass. By the time I finished straining, I had a glass of tasty, aromatic mulled ale and a sink full of brownish spice-egg gloup.

I’m not sure what the egg yolk was supposed to add to the drink, but it wasn’t worth the hassle it caused. I think I’ll leave it out next time and go for a beer-and-spices-only approach. I’ll also use whole spices instead of ground ones, as the ground ones didn’t mix in that well.

Do you have any mulling tips? What’s your favourite hot winter drink?