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Hot fun in the wintertime

Mugs giving off steam signals festive season
From the Bartender | Search restaurants | Archives

December 12th, 2007 issue

From the Bartender

Martin Hamacek

COURTESY PHOTO
A hot drink makes all the difference on a winter day.
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MULLED WINE

Ingredients:
11 centiliters red wine, full bodied
2 centiliters ruby port
1 centiliter Fassbind Poire liqueur
1 stick cinnamon
1 pod vanilla
2 centiliters honey
5 cloves
Sliced Mandarin orange and lemon
1 star anise (for garnish)
Preparation:
Pour wine, port, liqueur and honey in a pot and turn on heat (just enough that liquid will come to a boil).
Add cinnamon, vanilla and cloves.
Bring the mixture to a boil slowly.
Once it begins to boil, turn heat down slightly and simmer for one to two minutes.
Pour into preheated glasses, punch bowl or serving pitcher.
Garnish with sliced orange and lemon.
You may also garnish with cinnamon sticks.
If desired, garnish with star anise, as well.

It’s no mystery why mulled wine and other hot beverages have been popular for centuries. Winter could be brutal, even indoors before the advent of central heating. Extra sugar or honey boosted the calorie count, providing additional fuel for the body.

Plus these drinks were, and still are, pleasantly festive.
The oldest of these traditional concoctions were perhaps nothing more than the local alcohol, heated over a fire. What are now known as hot toddies — whisky and honey — hearken back to those days, even though it’s common in modern times to spice things up with cloves. Hot buttered rum is a richer, more inviting version of the grog served in Christmas market stalls. Rum punch existed in many forms. In England, warm cider is a centuries-old favorite.
Posselts and similar cream- or egg-based cocktails (the precursor to eggnog) have, on the other hand, almost disappeared.
Every December, mulled wines appear in pubs and stalls all over Europe. Some are steeped with citrus rind, others use sugar in place of honey and many carry local twists. But today, as in the past, they kindle a renewed spirit on dreary winter days.
Martin Hamáček is bar manager at Barego in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Nebovidská 1, Prague 1–Malá Strana.
Tel. 233 088 777.


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