Toddy cocktails

Toddy cocktails image 1

In its simplest and original form, a Toddy is a cocktail made with spirits or spirits, sugar, and water. Although "toddy" now usually refers to hot drinks, originally, toddies were made with hot or cold water. Toddies can be single-serve drinks or served like a punch. Indeed, a toddy is essentially a punch without citrus.

The name Toddy almost certainly comes from an Indian term for palm spirits. The first known reference to a toddy appears in The Trials of Samuel Goodere Esq; Matthew Mahony and Charles White for the murder of Sir John Dineley Goodere Bart, published in 1741.

...when I came to the White Hart, I saw Mahony, and some of the Privateer's Men with him there in a Room; I did not like their Company, I went into the Kitchen, I asked the Landlord to make me a Pint of Toddy, he asked me whether I would have it hot or cold, I told him a little warm; he was going about it, but before it was made, Mahony and the Privateer's men rushed out of the House.

The Trials of Samuel Goodere Esq, 1741

The toddy first took off in Scotland, where it was mostly served hot, and was popular in America by 1750.

One of the earliest references is in The Edinburgh Advertiser published 7th November 1786, and Dr Benjamin Rush's "An Inquiry into the Effects of Spiritous Liquors upon the Human Body, and their Influence upon the Happiness of Society.

To every class of my readers I beg leave to suggest a caution against the use of Toddy. I acknowledge that I have known some men who, by limiting its strength constantly by measuring the spirit and water, and who, by drinking it only with their meals, have drank toddy for several years without suffering any degree from it; but I have known many more who have been insensibly led from drinking toddy for their constant drink, to take drams in the morning, and afterwards paid their lives as the price of their folly. I shall select one case from among many that have come within the compass of my knowledge, to shew the ordinary progress of intemperance in the use of spirituous liqueurs. A gentleman, once of a fair and sober character, in the city of Philadelphia, for many years drank toddy as his constant drink. From this, he proceeded to drink grog. After a while nothing would satisfy him but slings made of equal parts of rum and water, with a little sugar. From slings he advanced to raw rum, and from common rum to Jamaica spirits. Here he rested for a few months; but at last he found even Jamaica spirits were not enough to warm his stomach, and he made a constant practice to throw a table spoon of ground pepper into each glass of his spirits, in order (to use his own expression) "to take off their coldness." It is hardly necessary to add that he soon afterwards died a martyr to his intemperance.

Dr. Benjamin Rush, The Edinburgh Advertiser, 7 November 1786

Toddies are now mostly made in the glasses in which they are served, but in the 1700s, toddies were mostly served in a bowl and ladled into drinking vessels. Georgian silver toddy ladles with turned wooden handles made in London by makers such as Benjamin West are often found in antique shops.

Toddy recipes

Hot Toddy (Scotch & Lemon)

Hot Toddy (brandy & lemon)

Hot Toddy (Scotch & Tea)

Whisky Mac Toddy

Hot Gin Toddy

Pumpkin Toddy

Join the Discussion


... comment(s) for Toddy cocktails

You must log in to your account to make a comment.

Report comment

You must be logged in to upvote or downvote a comment

Click here to login
Welcome to Difford's Guide

All editorial and photography on this website is copyright protected

© Odd Firm of Sin 2025