I thought about re-naming this cocktail. I really did. I’m sure I could come up with a much fancier, catchier medicinal name. But I just couldn’t do it. Because in our house, it is known as Icky-Poo Tonic.
The name should really be self-explanatory. This is a curative cocktail for when you are feeling, well, icky-poo. Achy and sniffly and downright bad. The recipe comes from the incomparable Joy the Baker, and she neglected to name it, leaving it wide open for my ridiculous interpretation. So Icky-Poo Tonic it is.
I usually don’t go anywhere near alcohol when I’m sick. My body is already working hard to fend off an infection, I figure, and is too busy to also be filtering alcohol out of my blood stream. But right around this time of year, as Boston begins to yield its warm summer to the frigid claws of fall and winter, I almost always get a bad cold. And it turns out that a nice warm cup of honey and vitamin C with a few glugs of bourbon is exactly what the doctor ordered. It warms you up through-and-through. It won’t cure you, but I have yet to find anything that makes you feel quite so good when you’re sick.
Icky-Poo Tonic
3 oz. boiling water
3 oz. orange juice
1/4-1/2 oz. honey
1/2-1 oz. bourbon or other whiskey
Pour orange juice into a mug and add boiling water. If this isn’t quite hot enough for you, warm it in a saucepan or in the microwave for a few seconds. Add honey and stir well to dissolve. Add bourbon and stir. Feel better.
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker.