Entertaining

6 Best Hot Cocktails for Cozy Winter Drinking

The genius of a Hot Toddy is that it’s endlessly customizable. Simply combine your choice of spirit, sweetener, spice and/or citrus, add hot water, and you have yourself a hot cuppa boozy comfort. While it’s most often made with whiskey, honey and lemon juice, your Hot Toddy could be made from tequila, agave and cinnamon, or you could use rum, molasses and nutmeg. Go nuts.

In the 18th century, Grog was basically a mixture of rum and water—amped up to incredible complexity by later innovators with the addition of lime and demerara syrup. The water in the drink can be cold and icy on a hot day, or heated for a cozy, warm spin on the cocktail, which really brings out the caramel notes of the demerara.

Some warm cocktails can knock you out. If you’re looking for a hot drink that’ll put some pep in your step (and not just because of the booze), heat up an Irish Coffee with a nice slug of Irish whiskey.

If you order a Rum Flip at a bar today, you’ll probably get a cold coupe of frothy rum goodness. But back in colonial times, bartenders stirred the mix of rum, beer, molasses, egg and cream with a red-hot poker straight from the flames. While that is definitely the coolest way to heat a drink, it is also the quickest way to set your living room on fire. Play it safe by heating the beer in a saucepan before adding it to the rest of the mixture.

When the leaves start to turn and decorative gourds fill the farmers market, that’s when you know: It’s PSL season. Skip the line at Starbucks and whip up your own boozy Pumpkin Spice Latte at home, complete with whipped cream. It’s like a warm fall sweater for your taste buds.

Aside from its close ties to holiday tidings, Eggnog makes a great warm dessert cocktail on any chilly, secular night. Just take your gently warmed mix of cream, eggs, milk and sugar, spike it with one or numerous boozes of your preference, and slip off into a sweet wintery dreamland.