It's A Hot Cocktail Freakout!

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 24, 2012 9:35PM

As expected, today's snow is already melting and our fleeting tease with seasonally appropriate weather has passed again. But the winds are picking up, Skilling Central is calling for more light snow tomorrow and a high that may not reach 30.

Some of you will invariably bitch about that, as is your right. We're of the "take lemons and make lemonade" school, so we've already filled the teakettle and dug deep into our home bar to have the necessary ingredients for a hot toddy like our Kentucky Rain cocktail.

You don't need to stick with the various renditions of the toddy, however. There are no rules that say you can only have hot buttered rum or Wassail during the holidays

There's nothing stopping you from coring an apple and heating the ingredients for an apple cocktail or a Beulah.

We can even share a new toddy recipe we've been tweaking this week, as many of us here on staff work to rid ourselves of a persistent chest cold. Here are the ingredients, all from local purveyors.

The Hot Toddy Apocalypse

1.5 ounces FEW Spirits Bourbon
.75 ounces Koval Ginger liqueur
1 teaspoon Chicago Honey Co-Op Honey
8 ounces warmed JK's Scrumpy Cider
1 teaspoon Rare Tea Cellars Emperor's Lemon Meritage tea.

Add bourbon, honey and ginger liqueur in a mug. Warm cider until vapors form and pour into a French press or the mug with a steeper of the tea. Let stand five minutes. Drink. Repeat.