FOOD & DRINK The Best Warm Drinks

The BEST warm drinks

5 cocktails to curl up with this winter

BY ANN WALCZAK

Curling up in a cozy chair with a blanket and clutching a steaming cup is the epitome of relaxing bliss during fall and winter. Comforting, pleasing and (to be honest) needed, hot cocktails have been around since colonial times, illustrating that adding booze to a cuppa is synonymous with joy. There’s just nothing like a strong sip of warming liquid to simultaneously enliven and relax the body – to reattach you with your humanity. Here are five of the best, complete with suggested recipes.

Hot Toddy

Though the most familiar of hot cocktails, the Hot Toddy is also the most varied in terms of recipe from place to place and person to person. Traditionally, the Toddy is simply made up of spirit, sugar and water and it’s been popular since 1750, proving some things don’t ever go out of style. Traditional version: Rinse mug with boiling water and dump. To a hot mug, add ¼ ounce demerara sugar, a lemon peel and 1 ounce hot water. Stir. Add 2 ounces whiskey and another 1 ounce hot water. My version: Rinse mug with boiling water and dump. To a hot mug, add ½ ounce honey, a clove studded lemon slice, 2 ounces whiskey and 4-6 ounces hot brewed black tea. Stir. Glühwein

Glühwein, essentially a type of mulled wine, is traditionally served at stalls at the Christmas Markets in Germany and Austria. A similar drink in Sweden is called glögg. My family is part German, and we make it darn near every year. Any dry red wine will work – we tend to use Merlot. You also want to add a shot of liquor to each glass, usually rum or brandy, but amaretto is also a good choice. My family? We keep it überGerman with Jägermeister. In a large stock pot, bring to a simmer 1 orange, peeled in strips, ½ juiced and ½ sliced in rounds, 1 ½ cups water, ½ cup turbinado or granulated sugar, 40 whole cloves, 4 cinnamon sticks, 4 whole star anise and 2 750ml bottles dry red wine. Let simmer for about 30 minutes. Add 1-2 ounces rum, brandy, amaretto or Jägermeister to each mug and ladle glühwein on top.

Apple Toddy

This version of the Hot Toddy, substituting a roasted apple flavor, has been enjoyed for over 200 years. In this recipe, we’re simply swapping hot cider for water.

Rinse mug with boiling water and dump. To a hot mug, add ¼ ounce or 1 teaspoon demerara sugar or mulling spice blend (optional), a cinnamon stick and lemon peel (optional), 2 ounces whiskey, rum or brandy, and 4-6 ounces hot cider. Stir.

Tom & Jerry

Described as a “soul-soothing winter warmer” and truer words could not be spoken. This combination of brandy, rum and an egg batter with hot water or milk came about sometime in the early 1800s. You’ll be hard-pressed to find one anymore unless you’re making it yourself, but from the mid-nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth, Tom & Jerry’s were a cold weather staple in American bars.

Traditional recipe as by David Wondrich, 2015: Separate yolks and whites of 12 eggs. Beat whites to stiff froth and yolks until well blended. Mix yolks and whites together and add 4 ½ cups sugar, 1 ounce rich Jamaican rum, 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground allspice, ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves. Stir well. Refrigerate immediately until needed but use within 4-6 hours. For each drink, pre-heat mug, add 1 ounce batter and 1 ounce cognac, then 3 ounces hot milk or water. Garnish with fresh nutmeg.

Hot Buttered Rum

This colonial-era drink was once medicinal. It’s chock full of calories and a hot staple many either love or hate. Rich and tasty, the butter can be shocking or oily in the mouth, so it’s best to prepare a batter-like mixture out of the butter, sugar and spices before mixing with rum and hot water.

Recipe from Kenneth Roberts, 1937: Combine ½ pound melted butter, ½ pound brown sugar, ½ pound sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground clove and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Add ½ quart softened vanilla ice cream and stir again. Cover and store in the freezer. To serve, add 1 tablespoon butter batter to a mug with 2 ounces golden rum and boiling water. Stir.

Ann Walczak is a food writer, editor, mixologist and former hospitality manager and consultant from Cleveland, Ohio. She is based in Nashville. Follow Ann and her food adventures on Instagram @annstagram58.