If Christmas could be condensed into a cup, it would probably taste like a Tom andJerry.
At least in Wisconsin.
Other regions of the United States have their seasonal drinks, and Wisconsin, for reasons that aren't completely clear, is a Tom andJerry zone. The egg nog-esque concoction of powdered sugar, whipped eggs and spices mixed with hot water or milk and a shot of brandy orrum (or both)has gladdened the hearts and stomachs ofCheeseheads for decades.
While some people make their own, at least two Tom andJerry mix manufacturers in Wisconsin continue to whip up batches of batter soldthroughout the upper Midwest. Cedar Crest Ice Cream in Manitowoc makes Mrs. Bowen's Tom & Jerrymix, while Steve Knauss makes Connolly's Tom andJerryBatter in Superior.
Both brands are made in October during a few weeks of frenzied activity so the 14-ounce and16-ounce containers can reachliquor and grocery store freezers in time forThanksgiving shoppers.
"Typically it’s served warm. Weather plays a big factor in our sales," said Cedar Crest Ice Cream President Ken Kohlwey. "When it’s cold out and snowing, people like a warm drink.”
There are plenty of hot drinks, though.Why is Tom andJerry a thing in Wisconsin?
"I don’t know," admittedco*cktail historian Wayne Curtis. "But then Iwas never able to figure out why brandy old-fashioneds are big in Wisconsin. Iguess you guys just have your own way of doing things."
There are a couple of origin stories of the Tom andJerry drink.
A bartender who wrote the first published bar guide in 1862, Jerry Thomas, claimed that he dreamed up the drink in 1847 and named it after himself. Thomas included a Tom andJerry recipe on Page 174 of his guide.
But Curtis said the Tom andJerry recipe first appeared in print before Thomas was born. The most likely origin of Tom andJerry was from a play adapted from a book written by a British journalist in the 1820s. "Tom and Jerry, Or Life in London" was a big hit in Englandand came to America in 1823.
"Some accounts I've read, the Tom andJerry drink was invented almost as a promotional thing. The drinks were made for people who went to the play," said Curtis,author of "And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten co*cktails."
Tom andJerrysbecame popular at a time — mid-1800s — when most people drank communally from a punch bowl. It was likely popular during Prohibition "because it was sweetand would have masked the taste of crappy bootleg liquor," said Curtis.
Damon Runyon, the journalist and author whose short stories were turned into the musical "Guys and Dolls," made Tom andJerry drinks practically a character in his well-known 1947 Esquire piece, "Dancing Dan's Christmas."
The drink's popularity peakedduring the 1950s, perhaps as part of an overall colonial revival movement during that decade. That might be why many vintage Tom andJerry mugs and punch bowls feature colonial style lettering and pictures.
"It's warm custard in a glass. What's not to like?It's creamy and smooth, tastes great and it gets you drunk," Curtis said.
RELATED:Tom and Jerry recipes warm hearts on cold nights
Steve Knauss, owner of Connolly's Tom and Jerry Mixin Superior, attributes the drink's enduring popularity to nostalgia, tradition and one key ingredient: booze.
"It's just something that you have, like lutefisk and lefse," said Knauss. "After the Thanksgiving meal, you have a Tom andJerry. Then you're like,'Oh, yeah let’s have another one.' Then later it’s like,'Oh, is there still some left in the freezer? Let's have another one.'"
Connolly's Tom andJerry mix was made at a family bakery on Belknap Street in Superior for decades before Mark Connolly's father sold the businessin 1986. The recipe changed hands a few times before Knauss bought it seven years ago.
Mark Connolly remembers his father and other family members baking all night and then switching to Tom andJerry manufacturing in two large machines during the day inNovember and December. He began helping make it when he was a teen.
Connolly's father always hoped for a cold deer hunting season because winter weather boostedTom andJerry sales.
"It's just a Wisconsin thing. It's popular here because there's a bit of nostalgia to it. It's tied to the holiday season and it's a warm drink that gives you a great feeling," said Connolly.
Knauss, who also owns Thirsty Pagan Brewing pub and microbrewery in Superior, makes 2,100 cases of Connolly's Tom andJerry mix each season, using a kitchen incubatorin the community and help from friends and family. Each case holds six 16-ounce containers of batter distributed to grocery and liquor stores in the Upper Midwest.
Five-gallon buckets of sugar and egg mixture are loaded into 60-quart mixers and churned for an intense few weeks every October.
"We call it the State Fair Syndrome. We work our tails off for two weeks and then we're done," said Knauss.
At Cedar Crest Ice Cream's Manitowoc plant last month, five employees were on Mrs. Bowen's Tom & Jerry mix duty for several weeks, pouring ingredients into large mixers that Director of Operations Michael Tessmann calls "KitchenAids on steroids."
While the mixing machines whip eggs and sugar, employees operate a machine that uses a giant funnel to fill candy cane-striped 14-ounce plastic containers dropping down one at a time into a moving circle. Lids are snapped on and containers arepackaged six to a box.
Cedar Crest produces around 70,000 containers sold mainly in Wisconsin as well as some in Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Each batch fills around 75 plastic tubs destined for grocery and liquor stores and eventually home freezers during the holidays.
Pointing to the fluffy sweet mixture rolling around inside a huge steel bowl, Nicole Langlois,a machine operator at Cedar Crest for five years, said, "When the batter is up at the top like that, it's done."
Cedar Crest bought Mrs. Bowen's Bakery in Madison in 1990. The company had been distributing Mrs. Bowen's Tom & Jerry mix, and the bakery owners asked if Cedar Crest could start manufacturing it.
When the last containers are filled for the holiday season, Cedar Crest managers bring in a couple of griddles and make Tom & Jerry French Toast for employees.
