How to Make the Ultimate Hot Toddy

Warm up with this classic winter whiskey drink.

When the mercury plunges, sometimes it just feels right to reach for something hot and boozy to warm your cold, cold heart. Enter the Hot Toddy, a simple winter classic that can be made with whiskey, brandy or rum. 

Joann Spiegal, taproom manager at Manhattan’s widely-acclaimed Dead Rabbit, suggests making the bracingly good version served at her bar. “The Castle Hot Toddy has an extra kick of sweetness by incorporating honey syrup and honey liquor, which makes it one of my favorites during the cooler months,” she says.

Sounds about right to us. Here’s how to make the Castle Hot Toddy and a traditional Irish Hot Toddy. 

Castle Hot Toddy

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey
• 1 oz Celtic Honey Liqueur
• Lemon wheel
•  5-6 Cloves
• Hot water

Instructions:

• Add Knappogue Whiskey and Celtic Honey to an Irish Coffee glass.
• Insert the cloves into your lemon wheel and drop it into the glass.
• Gently muddle the lemon a few times to release the juices.
• Top glass with hot water, and get your Toddy on.

Irish Hot Toddy 

“This is a standard recipe that can be modified in anyway you’d like,” Spiegel says. “Feel free to use less of this or more of that to make it boozier, sweeter or more citrus forward. The cinnamon stick is optional, but clove and lemon are required.”

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Clontarf 1014 Irish Whiskey (or whatever whiskey you prefer)
• .5 oz Honey Syrup (2:1 Honey:Water)
• Hot water
• Cinnamon stick
• Clove-studded lemon or orange wheel

Instructions:

• Add lemon or orange with 4-5 cloves inserted on either side to mug (glass preferable.)
• Press gently with back of spoon.
• Add whiskey and syrup.
• Top with hot water.
• Add cinnamon.