Hot Toddy (brandy)
A sweet and citrus brandy cocktail ∙ Build; Warm up ∙ 4 min ∙ 12.9% ABV ∙
The Hot Toddy (brandy) is a warm cocktail of Cognac, lemon juice, and brown sugar syrup topped with boiling water, finished with an orange twist.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-heat a toddy glass
- Pour the first 3 ingredients in warmed glass: Cognac 45 mlLemon juice 10 mlBrown sugar syrup 10 ml
- Stir
- Top with Boiling water while spoon still in the glass and briefly stir
- Express an orange twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Express the orange twist right over the hot drink just before serving; the heat carries the orange oil up to your nose.
History
Hot Toddy (brandy) is simply the Hot Toddy built with brandy instead of whisky, a swap the drink has carried since its earliest days: old accounts of the toddy already list brandy alongside whisky and rum as a base. The word "toddy," recorded in English by the 1610s from a Hindi term for fermented palm sap, had come to mean a hot mix of spirit, sugar, and water by the mid-18th century.
A popular but likely later legend attributes a brandy, water, cinnamon, and sugar version to a 19th-century Irish physician named Robert Bentley Todd, who prescribed it to patients as medicine.
FAQ
Can you use brandy instead of whiskey in a hot toddy?
Yes. Brandy has been a toddy base from the start, alongside whisky and rum, and its fruit and oak notes stand up to the hot water and sugar. This recipe uses Cognac.
How do you make a hot toddy with brandy?
Warm a toddy glass, then pour in 45 ml Cognac, 10 ml fresh lemon juice and 10 ml brown sugar syrup and stir. Top with 75 ml boiling water with the spoon still in the glass, stir briefly and express an orange twist over the top.
