Hot pumpkin toddy. Hot buttered rum. Spiced latte. Mulled wine. Are you feeling toasty already?
Hot alcoholic drinks go back a long way: Hot toddies crop up in Charles Dickens and Jack London; hot negus (mulled wine) in Jane Austen. The hot toddy, made of sugar, spice, citrus, alcohol and hot water, is a traditional way to cure a cold – or at least, cheer yourself up. Hot buttered rum, with its creamed butter and sugar, spices, rum and hot water, is also soothing. And there’s something about frothy milk or cream that will warm up anyone.
Mixologists and bartenders have ways of spicing up the traditional recipes that make them burn even brighter. “We add a bit of cayenne to give a bit more warmth to the experience,” says Rodel Borromeo, executive chef at Social bar on Tacoma’s waterfront. At Social, he uses cayenne in hot buttered rum, cocoa, chai or coffee lattes.
Not into milk? Try wine. Mulling wine goes back centuries with many names around Europe: Think Nordic Glogg or German Gluhwein. You can buy mulling wine spices, or make your own: The usual ingredients are whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice and a bit of orange peel. Wrap in a cheesecloth bag or just float them in the wine and scoop them out when you’re done. Boil the wine with sugar to taste.
Need something nonalcoholic? You can mull cider, too. Or try making hot buttered rum without the rum, adding cream soda instead – you’ll get something rather like Harry Potter’s butterbeer, sweet and rich.
For a printable copy of the recipes, click the links:
20 recipes for freshly picked summer flavors
