Hot Toddy

Keeping noses clean for over 200 years

By Pink Lady

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The ladies of LUPEC Boston are hardy New England broads. When it comes to winter tippling, we know exactly where to turn when the temperature sinks below freezing and the thought of ice in your cocktail just seems cruel: to Toddies.

The Toddy has been tippled in both hot and cold form since the 18th century. The basic formula consists of spirits, sugar and water, making it a precursor to the formula for the modern cocktail, which adds bitters to the mix. The Toddy is a close relative to the Sling, the Skin and the Sangaree (which pop up in some sources as nearly the same drink). The name may derive from a Colonial-era bar tool called the “toddy stick,” which was used to smash spices and chip loaf sugar.

The preferred base spirit for the 18th-century Toddy depended heavily upon whom you asked: “Rum (or whiskey if you were out on the frontier, brandy if you were posh, applejack if you were from New Jersey, gin if you were of African or Dutch extraction, etc.),” writes David Wondrich in Imbibe!. By the late 1800s, the drink was most commonly spied with whiskey as a base, which is how it is usually served at bars today.

When made with brandy, the Hot Toddy of yesteryear was praised for its medicinal properties. Over a century later, it remains the best medicine we can prescribe to ward off the winter cold, whether viral or weather related.

The recipe below is our Endangered Cocktail of the Month, but we encourage experimentation. Sip whatever variation you like best beside a blazing fire with friends and feel the warm glow of the holidays steal over you.

Cin-cin!

HOT TODDY

2 oz bourbon whiskey

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp honey

3-4 whole cloves

Combine all ingredients in a coffee mug, fill with boiling water and stir until honey is dissolved.

FOR MORE HOT TODDY VARIATIONS, CHECK OUT LUPECBOSTON.COM.