Hog Town Toddy

It’s winter and the living room doesn’t have as much insulation as one might like, so it’s time for hot toddies. I was in the mood for more bitter than refreshing, so I took some inspiration from the Toronto cocktail, but decided I wanted a rounder feel so replaced the usual simple & bitters with Drambuie to good effect.

2.0 oz rye whiskey (Old Overholt)
0.5 oz Drambuie
0.25 oz Fernet Branca
4 oz hot water
Add everything to a mug, no need to even stir

The first impression was warming, naturally, but it held up just fine even as it cooled. The sweetness plus mint gives it an after-dinner quality, but not cloying. Don’t overdo the Fernet! This toddy was pleasantly medicinal sipper with a lingering complexity, but more mint would have been unappealing. Despite the abundance of whiskey, it doesn’t feel boozy, so it’s a good thing that other elements slow you down.

Flora’s Own

I first ran across this drink on the fabulous Cocktail Virgin Slut blog. The house where I was mixing only had vermouth which wasn’t interesting enough to be half the drink, so I shifted the recipe around to even proportions:

1 oz American Honey
1 oz gin (Beefeater)
1 oz dry vermouth (Gallo)

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a Lemon Twist

Tonight, I compared two different pairs of gins and honey whiskeys: Bols Genever and American Honey against New Amsterdam and Drambuie. In the first, the nose was dominated by the Bols, and not really in a good way. The sweetness of the honey tempered it some, but the result was only OK. I don’t think this particular drink should have the gin as the star. The New Amsterdam + Drambuie was the better of the two. The Drambuie is much more assertive than the American Honey, so if mixing with that, I’d recommend the original ratio:

0.75 oz Drambuie
0.75 oz London dry gin
1.5 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Blanc)

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a Lemon Twist

For the future, I’d suggest 1:1:1 if using a non-spicy honey whiskey like the American Honey to let the spirits through, but 1:1:2 if using Drambuie to keep balance with the spice. As for gin, something in between these two, like an actual London Dry is probably the best call.