Sharkbaits Cocktail of the Week: Rest and Recovery

Happy Friday everyone. You know it, you love it, and today, I NEED it. I got COVID and flu vaccines yesterday. Normally flu does nothing to me, apart from some minor arm aches. But holy shit. COVID kicks my ass. Mrs Sharkbait is only slightly inconvenienced by it, with yet more arm pain. But me? I get it much worse. Cold spells, including the occasional shiver, lethargy, injection site pain. But the worst of all is for some reason, my lower back kills me after I get these vaccines. Thankfully it’s usually just the day after the injection that I suffer but man oh man does it suck. What that means for today is I have little energy to devote to looking up and mixing a legit cocktail. I immediately thought of a hot toddy, both as a filler for today, and also because one sounds really fucking good right now, so that’s what we’re gonna go with.

1 bag Lipton black tea

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2.5 tsp honey.

2 oz. Rye whiskey 

Brew the tea and let steep in the mug. Add juice of half a lemon and honey. Stir to incorporate the honey. Add whiskey and stir again.

Ohhh yeah that’s the good stuff right there. Now I’m not usually a tea drinker, (though I guess I better practice for next month) so I am not sure if the black tea comes though here, or is merely a vessel for booze, lemon and honey. Because the lemon is what stands out the most. It’s acidity stands out against the other ingredients, but it isn’t terribly sharp and aggressive thankfully. The 2.5 ounces of honey see to that. Though I did dial it in once I added the lemon, just to see where it stood. The rye is a nice background flavor at work here. It blends nicely with the lemon, and ever so slightly comes through with some rye flavor at the end. No whiskey burn, just a touch of flavor

10/10 would recommend as a counter to post vaccine side effects. Even though a hot pack and some Motrin were the heavy lifters getting me through the majority of the workday, this little guy as a nightcap really helped the most, even if it was just the mental side.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)