Cold weather drinking

[Wilfrid]

I marked the change of seasons in this part of the world by giving up the margaritas and the campari/grapefruit, campari/Ting refreshers and moving to something more warming.

I have started the cold months on Manhattans. One advantage here is that I can make them quite well myself, and bartenders can make them pretty well too. Fundamentally, it's a sort of whisky martini: bourbon (or rye?) with a dash of sweet vermouth. Some recipes ask for a sprinkle of bitters.

What's everyone else planning to drink to keep the chill out of their bones?

(and you can take your wine and beer to your other forums, thank you very much)

[Adam Balic]

Various single malts and grappa. Not together. Prefer the single malts in cold weather as they are 'uppers' and make you toasty warm.

[cugel_the_clever]

Mmmm, hot buttered rum...

[Wilfrid]

How do you make the hot buttered rum?

[Shermar]

Vodka Gimlet--bracingly cold-for ordinary cold weather

Makers Mark--neat-for bitterly cold weather

[Jaymes]

How do you make the hot buttered rum?

Since the colonial days in the US of A, Hot Buttered Rum has been, I believe, the standard of cold weather toddies.

It began as a kind of mulled rum/water or cider drink, with sugar, spices, and butter.

There are many recipes for it. In my experience, it has been a good thing to give for the winter holiday season, when you want to hand out homemade gifts to friends and neighbors. You whip up a "Hot Buttered Rum" batter which you put into an attractive container, with instructions. The container is then kept in the fridge (or freezer if your batter recipe contains ice cream, which many of them do). You can give the batter along with a nice bottle of rum, or not depending on your budget.

I am sure that a search of cookbooks, or a quick trip through Google, will provide you with many recipes, and you can pick one that looks promising.

This is one I made for many years and gave to friends and neighbors, as described above:

Hot Buttered Rum Batter

1 lb dark brown sugar

1 lb light brown sugar

3/4 lb butter (butter, not oleo)

2 jiggers white creme de menthe

2 jiggers creme de cocoa

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp powdered cloves

Melt butter and sugars over low heat or double boiler. Add spices and stir well. When fairly warm, but beatable, remove from heat and stir in liqueurs. Place into canning jars and seal. Let stand a month or so for fuller flavor.

To serve: Place 1 heaping tbls of mixture into mug. Add 1 jigger of rum and hot cider to fill.

Top with whipping cream for added richness/creaminess.

[Wilfrid]

Thanks, Jaymes. Much more complicated than I thought. Can one do without the two cremes? And is cider really a good accompaniment for rum?

[Jaymes]

Thanks, Jaymes.  Much more complicated than I thought.  Can one do without the two cremes?  And is cider really a good accompaniment for rum?

Yes, you certainly can. I don't know (on account of not being around back then) but suspect that the drink originally began without any creams. It just doesn't seem likely to me that taverns of old had a ready supply of cream, let alone ice cream.

You can find simple recipes that just call for butter, sugar and some spices - no cream or other flavorings.

But, as for the filler, rum is fabulous with cider. I've seen recipes that call for just rum, butter, sugar, the traditional mulling spices, and hot water (which is probably the original way), but cider is better.

After all, you'd hardly want to slurp down entire mugs of rum, would you? And even if you would, I suspect a fellow could only have one or two of them before he'd be under the table.

On the other hand, one can drink good hot buttered rum, with either hot cider or water as the filler, all through an entire snowy night in front of the fire.

[Jaymes]

Wilfred -

Have a suggestion for you that's no trouble at all.

Like most popular food preparations, there are companies that provide it premade (a la the "partially home-made" thread).

Most upscale liquor/wine stores sell packaged Hot Buttered Rum batter, as do many "gourmet" type grocers.

I'd suggest you buy one of those, then fill a mug with water (or cider), zap it in the MW, add your rum and a spoonful of the store-bought batter, see what you think.

Then, if you like it, and think it has possibilities, you can invest the time and trouble to make your own batter.

[nightscotsman]

Warm apple cider (preferrably fresh, but certainly not from concentrate) with a generous splash of Clear Creek pear brandy or Tuaca.

Benedictine or Drambuie are also very nice on a cold night.

An Aviation (gin, marachino, lemon juice) is also really good when you want a crisp cocktail to reflect crisp weather.

[Jaymes]

Warm apple cider (preferrably fresh, but certainly not from concentrate) with a generous splash of Clear Creek pear brandy or Tuaca.

When I lived in Alaska, there was a bar on the banks of the Chena River. In the wintertime, they served a drink called "Hot Apple Pie."

It swiftly replaced Hot Buttered Rum in my affections.

It is: Hot spiced/mulled apple cider, Tuaca, and a generous topping of freshly-whipped cream.

Oh my.

Positively orgasmic.

EDIT: In fact, thinking of the crockpot thread, when I entertain in the colder months, I always use my crockpot to mull up a big batch of apple cider. Then, I put the recipe for "Hot Apple Pie" in a cute little recipe-card holder alongside, and a bottle of Tuaca, and a bowl of whipped cream, and some nutmeg in a sprinkler-thing. Those who don't want alcohol can just have a mug of hot mulled cider topped with whipped cream and a dusting of nutmeg.

But those who do imbibe can add the Tuaca for the Hot Apple Pie.

This has always been very well-received.

[col klink]

I do appreciate a good hot buttered rum and I don't know if I'm dating myself (used to a lot of that in high school), but a Tom and Jerry makes for a damn good cold weather drink. A couple of Christmases ago, I was at my folks place in Upper Michigan and we went to an neighbor's party. She's in her nineties and not much taller than 4 feet and used to own one of the town bars so me made some pretty kick-ass Tom and Jerrys. She was a hoot, every two weeks she would move all of her furniture and vacuum every nook and cranny. It was enjoying to listen to her bitch about the new owners who use "those damn frozen fries, in my day we made the fries fresh!"

[GordonCooks]

Snifters of Cognac, or Grand Marnier - Big, fat luscious snifters you have to hold with 2 hands.

[Ron Johnson]

I've also made the switch to Manhattans, although perfect manhattans, which are less sweet and garnished with lemon twist instead of cherry.

Also various kentucky bourbons on the rocks or neat.

Benedictine warmed in a snifter. Fino sherry before dinner, and madeira after.

Port, lots of Port in the winter with a good cheese course.

[mickblueeyes]

LOL! The same thing I drink the rest of the year--lots of booze neat! Bourbon, Cognac, Armagnac, Tequila, Single Malt, Vodka, 100% Rye Canadian whiskies--the only thing I don't really drink in the winter is Gin for some reason.

[Marlene]

For my husband, single malt scotches. For me, the martini is seasonless. Also hot buttered rum, grand marnier, and mulled wine, that I've warmed in a crock pot all day. Needless to say, all of the above go exceptionally well in front of a fireplace while the snow is falling.

[mixmaster b]

Thanks, Jaymes.  Much more complicated than I thought.  Can one do without the two cremes?  And is cider really a good accompaniment for rum?

I have had sucess with this technique:

Smush up a hunk of butter (a tablespoon?) with some sugar--brown is best but white is fine (2 tablespoons?) in the bottom of a big mug. Add in a pinch of cinnamon and a grate of nutmeg. Splash in a jigger of rum, top with boiling water, and stir. Some experimentation is cartainly necessary. Lots of sugar and butter is the secret! This stuff is so good it should be illegal!!!

As for other winter libations (though I live in LA so perhaps I am not qualified to comment):

My S.O. is currently very taken with a drink called the Vesper. Apparently, it was James Bond's original drink, before Smirnoff came along and bought the rights to the Bond martini. It is good and very boozy:

3 parts gin, 1 part vodka, 1/2 part Lillet, garnish with lemon twist.

I have been pleased with a drink called the Ideal Cocktail.:

1 oz dry vermouth (Noilly-Pratt)

1 oz gin

1/4 teaspoon maraschino liqueur (no more!!)

1/2 teaspoon grapefruit juice

Garnish with a sliver of grapefruit peel or lemon peel.

The excellent Aviation was mentioned by Nightscottsman above; the Ideal is a great drink for those who like Aviations (and who wouldn't) and a nice use for that strange and wonderful Maraschino stuff.

In an effort to find a drink that would't make me instantly drunk, I started making Foghorns:

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 1/2 oz gin

Ginger Beer

Serve on ice with a slice of lime. Though this drink is great in warm weather, the rich ginger taste of a good, flavorful ginger beer is also nice for the winter.

I drink Negronis and Martinis in the winter, too. And lots of red wine...

[trillium]

An Aviation (gin, marachino, lemon juice) is also really good when you want a crisp cocktail to reflect crisp weather.

I like citrus cocktails during the winter. I made something up last winter while we were still in Chicago that I called er, witches' tit. Sorry, but it's the perfect name because the drink is kinda grey/silvery looking and it was that cold outside. It's basically a delilah but made with the juice from 1/2 of a grapefruit. You can use your lemon squisher if you cut it into pieces small enough to fit. I think I did 3 jiggers gin, 1 jigger Cointrou and juice from 1/2 a grapefruit with a twist of grapefruit peel. Wouldn't be the same with not fresh grapefruit juice.

We drank aviations last night while I was making 5x chocolate (cocoa, semi-sweet, choco extract, choco chips and cocoa nibs) cookies and dinner at the same time. Tried it with Junipero gin, a new one from Fritz Maytag. Very nice. I find it's harder to over imbibe with those than delilahs.

I like single barrel bourbons or bitters neat

regards,

trillium

[mixmaster b]

Trillium-

The Witches Tit sounds like a must try.

I love gin and I love grapefruit!

[Jaymes]

Thanks, Jaymes.  Much more complicated than I thought.  Can one do without the two cremes?  And is cider really a good accompaniment for rum?

I have had sucess with this technique:

Smush up a hunk of butter (a tablespoon?) with some sugar--brown is best but white is fine (2 tablespoons?) in the bottom of a big mug. Add in a pinch of cinnamon and a grate of nutmeg. Splash in a jigger of rum, top with boiling water, and stir. Some experimentation is cartainly necessary. Lots of sugar and butter is the secret! This stuff is so good it should be illegal!!!

I suspect this version is exactly how the whole thing got started in colonial America's taverns and roadhouses.

[trillium]

Trillium-

The Witches Tit sounds like a must try.

I love gin and I love grapefruit!

It's nice with a dash of orange bitters (Fee Brothers, not Collins) too. And you can call it something else if you'd like, I won't mind.

regards,

trillium

[Dances With Possums]

I am primarily a beer/single malt scotch drinker, but, for something unusual, I recommend the chocolate martini. At Louie's 106 here in Austin they make one that is orgasmic. This is the closest that I can get to the recipe:

Ingredients

1 jigger chilled vodka.

1 jigger chilled creme de cacao. (Use the clear kind. The dark kind of chocolate liqueur is very pretty but establishes too strong a taste).

1 good quality chocolate piece, such as a large gourmet chocolate chip or a good quality chocolate kiss.

Optional: cocoa for dusting the rim of the glass.

Optional: Hershey's (or Godiva!) chocolate syrup.

Directions

It is best to have your martini glass chilled...

Add both jiggers directly to the glass if you haven't got a martini shaker. Otherwise shake with a bit of ice and strain into the glass.

Add the chocolate piece or chip (it stands in for your olive in this case...).

At Louie's 106, they also put some chilled Hershey's syrup in a kind of flower pattern down the sides of the glass BEFORE they put the liquer/vodka in. For whatever reason, it doesn't really dissolve but stays on the sides. Maybe because it, the glass, and the ingredients are all chilled in advance.

DWP

[Jaymes]

Trillium-

The Witches Tit sounds like a must try.

I love gin and I love grapefruit!

It's nice with a dash of orange bitters (Fee Brothers, not Collins) too. And you can call it something else if you'd like, I won't mind.

Right-O. Wouldn't want to offend any witches, now would we???

[Blondie]

Hot Whiskey was the winter warmer of choice in Ireland. Dissolve a teaspoon or so of sugar in a shot of whiskey, add hot water and a slice of lemon (with or without a few cloves stuck in it).

Irish Coffee can hit the spot on a cold night too.

[dave88]

Should light or dark rum be used?