We did this show at Rachel’s request which happened to coincide with my managing a cold at the time. We did not have a recipe we were using specifically, but rather we essentially treated hot toddies as a sort of class of cocktail as the recipe varies so widely and with the connection to it being some sort of curative, which needs results to be respectable, everybody swears by their own recipe.
Interestingly enough, the prevailing belief in where the word “toddy” comes from is unexpectedly from the tropics. It is thought to be a word carried to England by the East India Company from India where toddy is the name for the palm wine indigenous to the region. To me the connection seems thin and I have not traced a path from palm wine to a hot whiskey drink, but until Jay can take a crack at it, there we are.
We chose to ask Michael at the Brixton to serve us up his version of a hot toddy. His is simple. Water, cloves, honey and Teeling Whiskey. He also uses the lemon wedge and cloves to construct a stirrer to add flavor to the drink by stirring if you so choose.
And it was delicious. Everybody liked it; Rachel might have had a spiritual experience. I’m not normally a big fan of hot drinks, but I really enjoyed it. I blame the really good whiskey for making this foray into hot toddies a delicious one for me.
Transition music: Cephalopod by Kevin MacLeod
Closing Music: Toddy by Bill Mayo
