Hot buttered rum
“I love the total classic,” says Mario Messig from the bar Garcon at the Viktualienmarkt. All you need is rum and butter, but you can also use cognac or brandy: fill 50 ml of rum with 100 to 150 ml of hot water or hot apple juice or both and then put a thick knob of butter on top, like you see in advertising. “It melts wonderfully clean and makes the drink creamy,” says the 33-year-old. “Since we only have European products in Garçon, I would make it with brandy or cognac.”
The whole thing comes in a glass with a handle and is more suitable as a digestive. “I drink it at Christmas or New Year’s Eve – then go out and have a to-go cup instead of the normal latte macchiato.” And you can also decorate or extend it, for example with a cinnamon stick or cardamom.
hot toddy
Add tea and ginger: Charles Schumann calls the “hot toddy” an “elixir of life”.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
This cocktail is so popular that two bartenders recommend different versions of it. “There’s a separate drink group called Hot Toddys, which I like a lot, especially in winter,” says Charles Schuman from Schumann’s Bar. “They are like an elixir of life for me.” He takes sugar or honey in a glass, you have to determine the amount yourself, add lime or lemon, then diced ginger, black tea and juice.
Schumann takes grape or orange juice, he adds port wine and/or whiskey, but in principle any dark spirit will do. “I often make myself a drink, especially when I’m not feeling well,” says the 80-year-old. “It’s difficult at Schumann’s to offer hot drinks, although I appreciate them very much. I would have to hire my own barman for that, which I don’t have.” You can decorate the hot toddy wonderfully with orange peel or lemon zest and, for example, star anise as a flavoring agent.
A hot toddy before going to bed – fit again the next day: Klaus St. Rainer’s recipe for approaching colds.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Klaus St Rainerboss of golden bar in the Haus der Kunst, swears by the “Hot Toddy”: “If I notice I’m getting a cold, I drink a Hot Toddy before going to bed and I’m fit again the next day.” His basic recipe is quick and uncomplicated, the art lies in the balance between sweet and sour.
Rainer uses freshly squeezed juice from an orange, a lemon and a lime, optionally also grapefruit. Add honey to taste and 80-100 ml of whiskey to sweeten. But rum, cognac or bitter liqueurs like Amaro are also suitable. Heat the mixture in a saucepan to no more than fifty degrees so that the alcohol does not boil off. Divide among one large mug or two small, garnish with star anise and toast to health.
Margarita Frio
Sandra Forster’s “Margarita Frio” comes on ice and still warms your heart thanks to apple and cinnamon.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Winter drinks are usually based on whiskey or rum. Sandra Forster from the Blitz club on the Museum Island, on the other hand, relies on tequila: “We have a Latin American focus, so tequila or mezcal was important for the recipe.” For your “Margarita Frio” first a quarter of an apple is crushed with a pestle in a cocktail cup.
Add 6 cl tequila, Forster recommends Arette Anejo, 4 cl fresh lemon juice and 4 cl commercial baked apple syrup. Shake the ingredients vigorously and pour into a pre-chilled glass with ice cubes, preferably a tumbler. To garnish, fan the apple slices over the rim of the glass and sprinkle with caramelized cane sugar and cinnamon.
bitter winter
Philipp Schmidt’s “Bitter Winter” comes without alcohol, but not without orange.
(Photo: Bayerischer Hof)
The Saarlander has been since 2019 Phillip Schmidt bar manager the Falk’s Bar in the Bavarian Court. When it comes to choosing drinks, he observes a trend among his guests: “The trend is going back to the timeless classics of bar art, such as a Martini, a Negroni or an Old Fashioned. But then everything can be interpreted in modern nuances or adapted to the season will.”
His “Bitter Winter” does not contain any alcohol. The recipe: Mix 3 cl orange juice, 2 cl grapefruit juice, 1 cl blood orange syrup, 1 small teaspoon orange marmalade and 5 cl soda in a wine glass with ice cubes. Then pour in 10 cl Sanbitter and garnish. Schmidt recommends a slice of dried orange and a sprig of rosemary powdered with sugar.