I will be perfectly honest, Hot Buttered Rum was not the hit I was expecting it to be to warm us last weekend when the winds were frigid and everyone was recovering from holiday parties. I think it was the fact that the drink does actually include a pat of butter that lost half my audience right off the bat. Mike was brave, though, and joined me in a mug, though after a few sips exclaimed, politely, that it “just isn't my bag”.
I, however, found it to be tasty, warming, and over all delightful. A sipping drink to be sure, as it is really pretty strong stuff, it matches the cold winter evenings of the holidays perfectly.
I mostly used this recipe, halving it, creaming a stick of butter with a bit less brown sugar than is called for and replacing the cloves I didn't have for nutmeg.
This drink originally comes to us from our colonial ancestors who needed to find new ways of fighting off the cold weather with booze. So this drink has likely been alternately grossing out and delighting people for years and years and years.
But what do you think?