Hot Buttered Rum
Winter's caloric flex
Hot spiced rum with butter, sugar, and warming spices — winter's greatest indulgence. Warming, rich, basically liquid nostalgia.
Ingredients
Method
In a mug, muddle butter with sugar, a pinch of nutmeg, and the cloves. Add dark rum, then top with hot water. Stir well until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
An unattributed classic that emerged organically from colonial American households, likely from eighteenth-century New England where rum production flourished. Per David Wondrich (*Imbibe!*), "History is silent as to where and when the spirits came into the picture, but eighteenth-century New England would have to rank high on any list of suspects." First documented in Jerry Thomas's *The Bartender's Guide* (1862/1887). Per Difford's Guide #981.
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