Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Other Whiskey Cocktails

Temple Toddy

A Hot Toddy mugs rests on a slatted wooden table. It’s filled with a golden drink, a cinnamon stick floats at its base, and it is garnished with a lemon wheel.
Travis Lincoln

Not only a tool for making soups and chiles, a crockpot can also be used to make drinks. Award-winning bartender Steven Gonzalez of The Living Room at Park Hyatt in New York City was inspired by a trip to Ireland when he created the Temple Toddy. He was also influenced by his love of tropical climes, bringing a twist to the traditional Hot Toddy with the addition of mango.

The Temple Toddy’s base is a fruity infusion—along with the mango, Gonzalez includes a whole apple and a lemon, as well as the necessary herbal ingredients like cinnamon, ginger and star anise. The fruit and herbs are slow cooked over the course of an hour, softening them so they can be macerated into a kind of rich, hot juice. The Irish whiskey is only added at the very end (along with a bit of honey for sweetness), rather than spending any time in the crock pot itself. That way, it never loses any integrity or flavor.

For the whiskey portion, Gonzalez uses the ubiquitous and affordable Jameson Irish Whiskey, but another good quality Irish whiskey can take its place, if desired. And while it will certainly change the drink from its original form, substituting your favorite spirit can also work—however it’s wise to stick to the darker, aged spirits like brandy, rum or another whiskey to maintain the lush depth of the Temple Toddy.

Ingredients

  • 1 Granny Smith apple
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 mango
  • 1 piece ginger (2 inches)
  • 2 star anise
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 ounces Jameson Irish whiskey
  • 1/2 ounce honey
  • Garnish: cinnamon stick
  • Garnish: lemon wheel

Steps

  1. Peel and chop the apple, lemon, mango and ginger.

  2. Add the apple, lemon, mango, ginger, star anise, cinnamon sticks and 32 ounces water into a Crock-Pot. Cover and set to “low.” Cook for 1 hour.

  3. Muddle all solids and strain mixture through a fine strainer. (Yields 6 ounces.).

  4. Combine mixture, whiskey and honey into a Hot Toddy mug.

  5. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a lemon wheel.