Arethusa’s Seasonal Eggnog Bottles Are a Holiday Collectible
By Zachary Schwartz
On a recent visit to Arethusa Farm Dairy in Bantam, I overheard a young lady at the dairy counter tell her parents, “I wish they carried eggnog year-round.” Sweet tooths like her wait all year for Arethusa Farm’s seasonal eggnog, a creamy rich formula that tastes like melted vanilla ice cream blended with egg yolk and spices. It is truly delectable.
Litchfield-based Arethusa Farm has been producing its eggnog for over a decade. Each year, they prepare a limited batch of sweet eggnog that flies off the refrigerated shelves. “Our eggnog is a wonderful seasonal dairy offering. We love the holiday spirit it brings,” says Arethusa Farm co-founder Tony Yurgaitis. “We have a great formula, and we use great milk, which is the beginning of any of our dairy products.” It is freshly bottled weekly during the holidays and includes no artificial fillers.
Arethusa Farm started producing 5,000 bottles of eggnog 12 years ago. Since then, this delightful beverage has skyrocketed in popularity, yielding up to 60,000 bottles per holiday season. Holidaymakers from all over travel to Arethusa Farm’s retail stores for the bottled treat, enjoyed spiked or straight. “Arethusa eggnog over the holidays is part of what customers want at their tables to celebrate with their friends. I find this very inspirational that they think of us, and sharing this wonderful product with their friends,” says Yurgaitis.
True Arethusa Farm fanatics know the eggnog not only as an annual delicacy, but also as a coveted collector’s item. Each year, Arethusa Farm distributes the eggnog in custom glass bottles, reminiscent of vintage American milk bottle deliveries. “Our concept was having glass bottles that are collectibles. Each year we put the date and we change the bottle up, including the colorations and the images on the bottle,” says Yurgaitis. “It’s a fun way of marketing. Thinking back how milk used to be in bottles, and now people collect a lot of bottles from the past. It keeps our name and legacy in people’s homes.”
The glass vessels vary annually in design, and are illustrated by the in-house team at Arethusa Farm. “We don’t just have a generic bottle design,” explains Yurgaitis. “We have a little image of a cow. We try to make it seasonal, and relatable to Arethusa Farm. Our inspiration is the farm.” The bottles are visually appealing on their own, but look better in multiples as cheery holiday décor. Prior bottle illustrations have included the Arethusa Farm barn nestled between two evergreen firs, a Jersey breed cow poking its head through a holiday wreath, and a Holstein breed cow wrapped snugly in a red bow. Yurgaitis’ favorite design to-date was for the tenth anniversary of the eggnog, featuring a silver bottle cap and a wreathed calf’s head drawing. Each year, the slogan is always printed onto the bottle: “Eggnog like it used to taste.”
So, how many seasonal Arethusa Farm eggnog bottles have you collected?
