Hot Toddy
A Hot Toddy is 60ml Scotch, 15ml honey syrup, 15ml fresh lemon juice and 120ml water just off the boil. Stir the honey syrup, lemon and water in a warmed mug, add the whisky last, and finish with a clove-studded lemon wheel and a cinnamon stick. About 2.4 UK units. Toddy began as the name of a fermented palm-sap drink in India. Its use for spirit with hot water, sugar and spice first appears in English in 1786, and made with Scotch it is the version most tied to Scotland. A story links the name to Todd’s Well in Edinburgh; it is not documented. Restraint is the method. Water just off the boil keeps the whisky’s aroma in the mug, and honey syrup mixes where neat honey sinks.
Glassware: Irish Coffee Mug
Garnish: Cinnamon stick, Lemon wheel and Three or four cloves studded into the lemon wheel
Ingredients
60ml
A mid-weight blend of Scotch whisky, 40% ABV, added last so its aroma stays in the mug. Irish whiskey makes a softer toddy, bourbon a sweeter one.
15ml
Two parts honey to one of warm water, mixed in advance so it disperses. Honey rounds the drink in a way plain sugar does not.
15ml
From a lemon cut that day. At 15ml against the same measure of honey syrup it keeps a hot, sweet drink from going flat; heat dulls acid a little, so do not cut it.
120ml
Just off the boil, never at it. A rolling boil drives off the whisky’s aroma and makes the drink too hot to sip.
Instructions
Warm a heatproof glass or mug with hot water, then discard the water.
Boil the kettle and leave it off the heat for about 30 seconds.
Add the honey syrup, lemon juice and 120ml of the hot water, and stir.
Add the Scotch last and stir once more.
Drop in a clove-studded lemon wheel and a cinnamon stick, and serve.
Expert Tip
Use water just off the boil, never at it. A rolling boil drives the whisky’s aroma out of the mug and makes the drink too hot to hold for minutes. Take the kettle off, count to about thirty, then pour. Add the whisky last. The honey syrup, lemon and water go in first and are stirred together, and the spirit joins a drink that has already come down a few degrees. Warm the mug and use honey syrup, two parts honey to one of warm water. A cold mug takes the heat straight out of the drink, and neat honey sinks and clumps.
Behind the Hot Toddy
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Toddy came into English from India, where it named a drink of fermented palm sap. By 1786 the word meant spirit with hot water, sugar and spice. Made with Scotch, it is the version most tied to Scotland.
A Scottish story traces the name to Todd’s Well, a spring in Edinburgh. It makes a good tale, and nobody has documented it.
The Medicine Question
The toddy’s reputation as a cold remedy rests on what is in it besides the whisky. Steam, heat, honey and lemon soothe a sore throat and a blocked head. The whisky soothes nothing, and nothing in the mug cures a cold.
Building It Properly
Honey syrup rather than neat honey, so it mixes; water just off the boil rather than at it; whisky added last, so its aroma stays in the drink.
Hot Toddy: the parts and their jobs
Scotch
- Measure
- 60ml, added last
- Its job
- Warmth and aroma
Honey syrup
- Measure
- 15ml
- Its job
- Sweetness and roundness
Fresh lemon juice
- Measure
- 15ml
- Its job
- Acid, so the drink does not go flat
Water just off the boil
- Measure
- 120ml
- Its job
- Heat and length
Clove-studded lemon wheel, cinnamon stick
- Measure
- In the mug
- Its job
- Spice that builds as it sits
| Ingredient | Measure | Its job |
|---|---|---|
| Scotch | 60ml, added last | Warmth and aroma |
| Honey syrup | 15ml | Sweetness and roundness |
| Fresh lemon juice | 15ml | Acid, so the drink does not go flat |
| Water just off the boil | 120ml | Heat and length |
| Clove-studded lemon wheel, cinnamon stick | In the mug | Spice that builds as it sits |
The Clove-Studded Lemon
Cloves release their oils slowly in hot liquid, so the studded wheel works like a tea bag: the drink is mildly spiced when it arrives and more so ten minutes later.
Three or four cloves are enough; a dozen turn it medicinal. The cinnamon stick does the same job more slowly and gently.
Why Hot Drinks Are Different
Heat changes how a drink tastes. Aroma rises all the time, so the whisky and spice reach the nose more than in a cold drink. Sweetness reads lower. And dilution is fixed when you build it, with no ice to correct a heavy pour.
So a toddy has to be right when it is made. One that arrives too strong stays that way to the last mouthful.
How to Serve It
In a warmed, handled mug or heatproof glass, hot enough to hold in both hands and cool enough to sip at once. Leave the lemon and cinnamon in; they keep working as it cools.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whisky (Scotch)Scotch is whisky distilled and matured in Scotland, kept in oak for three years at the least, and bottled no weaker than 40% ABV. The law allows only three ingredients, water, malted barley and whole grains of other cereals, and only water and plain caramel colouring may be added later. Fifteen recipes in our library call for it, from the Penicillin and Hot Toddy to the Rob Roy.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Hot Toddy help a cold?
What whisky is best in a toddy?
Why not use boiling water?
How strong is a Hot Toddy?
Where does the name toddy come from?
Can I make it without alcohol?
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Hot Buttered Rum
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Brandy Sling (Hot)
A hot Brandy Sling is 50ml of brandy, 20ml of fresh lemon juice and 15ml of sugar syrup in a warmed heatproof glass, topped with 90ml of water just off the boil, stirred, and finished with freshly grated nutmeg and a lemon slice on the rim. About 2.0 UK units. In his 1862 bar guide Jerry Thomas wrote that the brandy sling is made with the same ingredients as the brandy toddy, except that you grate a little nutmeg on top. His sling has no lemon; ours adds 20ml, which keeps the sugar and brandy from tasting flat in hot water. Heat is the method. Water just off the boil, never boiling, warms the brandy without scalding off its aroma, and the nutmeg on the surface reaches you before the first sip.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026