I’ve been battling a cold (or something worse) since late last week. I’m one of those people that tries real, real hard not to take medicine unless absolutely necessary. My body is a temple, after all. It’s a finely tuned machine that I only periodically poison with pizza and butter and Reese cups and the occasional ten-beer Saturday afternoon. But otherwise, a FINE-TUNED MACHINE.

Anyway, my preferred method of dealing with a cold is acting like I don’t have one. No, I didn’t just sneeze, that was your mind tricking you. Do you have a tissue? But sometimes at night my head feels sufficiently encased in cotton balls that I have to do SOMETHING. That something, more often than not, is a hot toddy. Hoo man, are those good. I like bourbon all by itself just fine, but add in some hot lemonade? SIGN ME UP. Hot toddies make you realize why Brown-Forman was able to survive selling whiskey for “medicinal use” during prohibition.

I was in Ireland this past summer and discovered they have a similar drink: hot whiskey. They’re very literal in Ireland, no beating around the bush with a name like that. A hot whiskey is basically a hot toddy but they add cloves to the lemon and use Irish whiskey. IT’S SO GOOD. I drank several. I’m drinking one right now. It’s cold outside, why aren’t you drinking a hot whiskey? You should. They’re great.

LINKS: