When the evenings begin at five and the darkness holds a chill, we turn to the warm, bright comforts of spice, hot tea, and Scotch to create a Cinnamon Spiced Hot Toddy. The history of hot cocktails stretches back to the Roman Empire, where spiced, mulled wine provided a brace against winter. The rise of the British Empire and the colonization of India saw the appropriation of the Hindi tadi, a drink made from fermented palm sap. By the late 1700's, the British had claimed the drink as their own and defined it as a mix of any liquor, hot water, sugar, and spice.
Our Cinnamon Spiced Hot Toddy follows that tradition and is built for balance and an evening of relaxed sipping. We start with Firepot's Soul Revival (available on Firepot's website or in our cafes), a turmeric chai created by spicing black tea from Assam, India, to honor the toddy's origin. Scotch serves as a nod to the British for popularizing the drink in western Europe, and we tie the drink together with the same Cinnamon Cardamom simple syrup we use in our seasonal latte in our cafes.
To bring an added layer of depth to your Scotch's peat and the syrup's cinnamon infusion, we recommend pre-smoking your mug by charring a cinnamon stick. If you just love our Cinnamon Cardamom Latte and want to experience at home, we recommend brewing a cup of coffee, adding an ounce of the syrup, and topping it with an ounce or two of milk for a home version second to none.
