my real motivation is that james and i went back to The Equinox Resort and Spa in manchester, vt (see blog post i can't believe it’s maple butter ) to celebrate the new year. it reminded me of what i like to call one of my akward foodie moments, during our last trip to manchester.
after a long snowshoe hike in the historic hildene, which for all you history buffs is the "historic home built in 1905 by President Abrahamand Mary Todd Lincoln's son, Robert Todd as a summer residence"- james and i decided to head to the bar in equinox for some warm holiday drinks. the following dialogue takes place:
me: "i'll have a hot toddy please"
bartender: "ok"
(akward stare and silence)
bartender: "do you know what that is?"
me: "uh, yes"
bartender: "are you sure?"
me: "well, i thought i did. isn't it just hot apple cider with some sort of alcohol. rum i think?"
bartneder: "yeah, no. it's hot water, whiskey, and some spices"
me: "oh"
bartender: "you still want it"
me: "um no. not really. i'll just have hot apple cider with some rum"
okay. guess for the XX amount of years that i have been a legal alcohol consumer i've had the wrong idea of what a hot toddy was. well, i didn't feel that bad because the bartender explained that a lot of people had that misconception. i am sure he was lying to break the akwardness of the situation.
in any case, hot toddies usually come around during the winter season. i don't foresee any bars changing their maragarita or corona specials in the summertime with this drink.
the official ingredients of the hot toddy vary from bar(tender) to bar(tender). here are the recipes i have found from my google search:
epicurious: bourbon, honey, lemon, hot water
drinksmixer.com: brandy, honey, lemon, hot tea
suite101.com: scotch, sugar, lemon, hot water
i'll leave the portions for you people to figure out. i think we see the trend here...but wait! where is the alleged "some spices" the bartender from the equinox spoke of? i think that only restaurants/bars have the resources for these types of ingredients, so i am assuming that home recipes are "dumbed down". luckily i remembered that a restaurant i ate at last week, freeman's in the lower east side, served hot toddies. looked up their cocktail menu and the freeman's hot toddy consisted of applejack, honey, lemon, ginger, cloves. (ps- stay tuned for a post about freeman's)
well that makes sense. cloves (besides being a cigarette that early teens would smoke because of the spicy flavor it used to leave on your lips. not like i know from experience) is such a generic name for "spices" that i am sure the contents of cloves vary for each drink maker.
okay, i think i beat that to a dead horse.
what are some other wintry faves? stating the obvious, most wintry drinks faves are warm- hot chocolate, hot apple cider, coffee. and for whatever reason- egg nog is a holiday drink. i don't know why it specifically sold only during the holiday season- especially if we are using the warm drink rule, that ish is served cold.
i guess another winter drink norm is that whatever your fave is, just add your favorite alcohol to it. that's what i did to hot apple cider and rum (aka my version of the hot toddy).
happy winter everyone! and happy winter drinking, whatever your favorite drink may be....
