I’m excited to share one of America’s favorite cold weather and holiday cocktails: The Hot Toddy.
My hot toddy recipe is famous (among our friends!), and it’s super-easy and toasty warm and comforting. Dare I say: it’s the perfect cold weather cocktail for Friendsgiving and the winter holidays.
I’m using one of my favorite ingredients: Jameson Irish Whiskey. This will add a a hip shake to your step. Of course, you can use any whiskey, bourbon, rye, brandy, or rum you have on hand, and it will still warm your cockles.
What’s a Hot Toddy? And Is It Good for Colds?
The English and Scottish borrowed the idea for the hot toddy from India. In the 1610s, the Hindi word “taddy” meant “beverage made from fermented palm sap.” By 1786, taddy was documented and defined as “beverage made from alcoholic liquor with hot water, sugar, and spices.” From there, the history of this cocktail is widely told and a little bit murky (and perhaps a little perky too).
In the cold damp winters of northern England and Scotland, pubs poured hot water into Scotch whiskey. There is another origin story that says Robert Bentley Todd, an Irish doctor, recommended his patients quaff hot brandy, sugar water, and cinnamon.
The hot toddy made it to America in the early 1800s. An article titled “How to Take Cold” appeared in the Burlington Free Press in 1837, implying that the Toddy was a cure-all. The article’s writer recommends you ply sick sniffly children “with hot stimulating drinks of which hot toddy is best.”
If you have a sore throat or cough, you might try a hot toddy recipe in the evening. My wife swears by this drink whenever she’s getting a cold. Or whenever she’s cold or chilly, which is practically all the time. As much as she enjoys ginger turmeric tea, I’m pretty sure the hot toddy is her favorite cocktail (and medicine).
How to Make a Virgin Hot Toddy aka ‘Hot Teddy’
If you want to make a non-alcoholic Hot Toddy without alcohol, you can absolutely do that too. Here’s my virgin “Hot Teddy” recipe, named after Toddy’s cousin. For this version, all you do is NOT include the Jameson Irish Whiskey. And, if you want, you can include apple juice or apple cider instead. So, it’s that easy! And then you basically have a tasty and festive autumn holiday beverage to warm your soul.
It’s Easy to Make The Best Hot Toddy
In addition to your favorite whiskey, rye, bourbon, brandy, or rum, all you need is hot water, honey, lemon juice, and an optional sprinkle of cinnamon.
Usually while the water is boiling I go ahead and mix everything in my mug. And then usually if I’m not too slow in measuring and mixing the whiskey, honey, and lemon, the water will be boiling on the stove just at the right time to add it in.
In my hot toddy recipe, I use about a cup of hot water in a coffee mug but you can add however much you want, depending on how strong, or how weak, you want to make the drink. You might actually want to mix in the honey while everything’s nice and warm from the water. Ensure that honey melts with everything in there, so give it a couple of stirs.
Chris’s Famous Hot Toddy Recipe
Makes 1 warm spicy beverage
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 oz of your favorite whiskey (we love Jameson), bourbon, brandy, rye, or rum
- 1-2 teaspoons honey (to your taste)
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice (to your taste)
- 1 dash of cinnamon
- OPTIONAL: 1 chamomile tea bag (or personal tea of choice)
- OPTIONAL:Cinnamon stick, for garnish
- OPTIONAL:1 star anise, for garnish
- OPTIONAL:Lemon slice, for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
- Boil water.
- While water is heating, add whisky to your favorite mug along with lemon juice, honey, and cinnamon.
- Pour hot water and mix thoroughly.
- Add any optional garnishes such as cinnamon stick, star anise, tea bag, and/or lemon slice.
- Enjoy!
Virgin Hot Toddy aka Non-Alcoholic ‘Hot Teddy’ Recipe
*For days when you need a warm, comforting friend
Makes 1 warm spicy beverage
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup hot water
- ¼ cup organic apple cider or apple juice
- 1-2 tsp honey (to your taste)
- 1-2 tsp lemon juice (to your taste)
- 1 dash of cinnamon
- COMPLETELY OPTIONAL ADDITIONS:
- 1 chamomile tea bag (or personal tea of choice)
- Cinnamon stick, for garnish
- 1 star anise, for garnish
- Lemon slice, for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
- Boil water.
- While water is heating, add apple cider to your favorite mug along with lemon juice, honey, and cinnamon.
- Pour hot water and mix thoroughly.
- Add any optional garnishes such as cinnamon stick, star anise, tea bag, and/or lemon slice.
- Enjoy!
At the end, I like to add a garnish to make it look more festive. If you have it, add a cinnamon stick. To up to up the level of exotic excitement, you can add a star of anise, which is not for everybody. (If you don’t like black licorice you might not like adding that.) I like adding it because it just adds a little bit more of that autumn smell. And then you can drop in a slice of lemon, and voila, you are done and ready to imbibe! Cheers and happy holidays! Enjoy the nice cold weather in front of the fire with your hot toddy.
Chris’s recipe is included in our Create Social Club Friendsgiving Fall Event.
When Did the Hot Toddy Become America’s Most Popular Hot Cocktail?
I had heard that hot toddies were America’s favorite hot cocktail, but I wanted to fact-check that and find out when it happened. I consulted Google Trends and found that more Americans are searching for hot toddy than hot buttered rum, mulled wine, Irish coffee, and hot cider.
In fact, the hot cocktail that had been most popular in Americans’ Google searches had been hot buttered rum from 2005-2009. However, in the winter of 2009-2010, hot toddy searches recipe searches spiked up higher and surpassed hot buttered rum and mulled wine each subsequent year.
The winters of 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 were particularly huge for hot toddy recipe searches in the US. Each year US hot toddy searches tend spike in November and December.
Mulled wine searches have been on the rise as well, and nearly caught up to and tied the hot toddy last winter.
ABOUT CHRIS: @christito enjoys making cocktails for everyone, even when he’s on the wagon. Chris is a photographer, graphic designer, and printmaker, and he designed the Create Social Club logo. Chris is also CEO and co-founder of EpicVacay (@myepicvacay), a transformational retreat company. He lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and two elderly doggos.
Check out the rest of the videos from the Create Social Club Friendsgiving Fall Party.