Hot Buttered Rum Day

What the day is

Hot Buttered Rum Day is observed on January 17, which is exactly the right time of year for it. The drink is rum, hot water or cider, sugar, spices and a piece of butter, stirred until the butter melts into a rich, slightly cloudy cup.

The butter is what distinguishes it from a hot toddy, and it is doing real work. Fat coats the mouth and softens the alcohol's edge, so the drink tastes rounder and warmer than the same ingredients without it.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented. The drink is colonial American and its existence is a direct result of trade patterns: molasses came north from the Caribbean, New England distilled it into rum in quantity, and rum was consequently cheaper and more available than imported spirits for much of the eighteenth century.

Hot drinks made sense in unheated houses, and the ingredients were all on hand. Early versions leaned on molasses for sweetness; brown sugar is the usual modern substitute and gives a cleaner result. Some recipes add an egg or cream, which pushes the drink toward a hot version of a flip.

How to take part

The efficient approach is to make a batter in advance rather than building each cup separately.

• Beat softened butter with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove and a pinch of salt until smooth. This keeps in the refrigerator for weeks and freezes well.
• Put a heaped spoonful in a mug, add rum, top with boiling water or hot cider, and stir until the butter has fully melted.
• Use a dark or aged rum. Light rum disappears under the spice.
• Scoop the batter into an ice cube tray if you make a batch, so a single portion comes out cleanly.
• Cider instead of water makes it noticeably better and slightly less strong, which is usually an improvement.

It scales well for a crowd: keep cider hot in a slow cooker, put the batter and rum beside it, and let people build their own.