The Hot Toddy as Jerry Thomas Made It (1862)
Reader ratingsA teaspoon of sugar, a wine-glass of whiskey and boiling water in place of the ice, stirred in a small glass with no lemon at all: the hot toddy as Jerry Thomas’s 1862 bar book made it.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
- Prep
- Total
The 1862 hot toddy, whiskey, sugar and boiling water, in a small thick glass tumbler with a spoon.
The story behind the recipe
In the oldest bar recipe we found, a hot toddy was whiskey, sugar and boiling water, with no lemon. That recipe is in Jerry Thomas’s How to Mix Drinks of 1862, as a rule: his Whiskey Toddy is a teaspoon of sugar, half a wine-glass of water and a wine-glass of whiskey with a small lump of ice, and for the hot version, as he writes under the Brandy Toddy just above it, “omit the ice, and use boiling water.” The recipe below follows that rule. His 1887 edition spells out a Hot Whiskey Toddy in the same way, with more water.
Punch without the lemon
The lemon is what separated a toddy from a punch. Oxford Night Caps, an 1847 book of the university’s drinks, cites a Mr. Wadd on “Toddy, or Punch without acid.” Thomas keeps the same line between them. His 1887 Hot Irish Whiskey Punch gets a piece of lemon rind or a thin slice; his toddies get none, and in 1887 only the hot brandy and apple toddies get a grating of nutmeg.
He changed his mind on the order, though. In 1862 he writes: “In making hot toddy, or hot punch, you must put in the spirits before the water.” The 1887 edition says the opposite in a footnote: sugar “does not readily dissolve in spirits,” so the water goes in first, and the glass should be warmed before the boiling water goes in. Boiling water in place of ice was a standing trick in the 1862 book, the first of the bar books that The Bartenders Who Wrote Down the Classic Cocktails follows.
Read more about this recipe
How hot, how strong
Thomas’s wine-glass is 2 fluid ounces, and half a wine-glass of water is 1 fl oz, so the 1862 toddy is short and strong: about 29% ABV, about one and a half US standard drinks. With only a third of the glass boiling water, it comes out warm rather than scalding. The 1887 version fills the small glass two-thirds full with boiling water, which makes the hotter drink and brings it nearer 18%. We follow the 1887 footnote and dissolve the sugar first, since it melts at once in boiling water. Honey, a lemon slice and cloves are a later habit.
Put the lemon back, shake it cold, and the whiskey turns into Thomas’s Whiskey Sour. Anyone off alcohol can still have a hot glass in the same spirit: the soda fountain’s Hot Ginger, ginger syrup and hot water, sold in winter in the 1890s.
133. Brandy Toddy.
(Use small bar glass.)
1 teaspoonful of sugar.
½ wine-glass of water.
1 do. brandy.
1 small lump of ice.
Stir with a spoon.
For hot brandy toddy omit the ice, and use boiling water.
134. Whiskey Toddy.
(Use small bar glass.)
1 teaspoonful of sugar.
½ wine-glass of water.
1 do. whiskey.
1 small lump of ice.
Stir with a spoon.
Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
Ingredients
For 1 drink, about 3 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink, about 3 fl oz.
- Sugar1 tsp
- Boiling water1 fl oz
- Bourbon2 fl oz
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 fl oz boiling water
- 2 fl oz bourbon
Equipment
Kettle
Heatproof cup or glass
Bar spoon
Instructions
Warm a small heatproof glass or cup by rinsing it with hot water.
Put in the sugar, pour on the boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Add the bourbon, stir once more and serve at once, with the spoon in the glass. Made this short, it is warm rather than hot; for a hotter glass, make the longer 1887 version below.
Nutrition
160calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 90-proof whiskey and granulated sugar.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
This is one drink. Make each glass on its own so the water stays near boiling.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
The 1887 Hot Whiskey Toddy is longer: dissolve the sugar in a little boiling water, add the bourbon or rye, then top up with boiling water until the glass is two-thirds full, about 3 fl oz of water in all. That makes about 5 fl oz at roughly 18% ABV.
The modern habit: use honey in place of the sugar and add a slice of lemon, stuck with a few cloves if you like. Without the whiskey, the same cup is plain hot lemon and honey: the juice of half a lemon and a tablespoon of honey stirred into 6 fl oz of hot water. That is a modern cup, not a period recipe, and these amounts are ours.
Thomas’s other hot drink makes a good cup without spirit: the Alcohol-Free Tom and Jerry stirs his spiced egg batter into hot milk.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks, or, The Bon-Vivant’s Companion (New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862), Nos. 133 and 134, “Brandy Toddy” and “Whiskey Toddy”, p. 57; “Hot Whiskey Toddy” in Jerry Thomas, Bar-Tender’s Guide (New York, 1887), p. 43
See the original pages (scan at Internet Archive) (opens in a new tab)
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Hot Drinks
- Region
- American
- Era
- 19th century
- Source decade
- 1860s
- Base
- Whisky
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Season
- Winter