Hot buttered rum is a colonial American winter drink: a spiced butter batter, dark rum, and boiling water. The batter is the whole trick — make it once, keep it in the freezer, and the drink takes two minutes for the rest of the season.
The batter (makes about 16 drinks):
- 1/2 lb salted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- Pinch of salt
- Optional: 1/2 cup good vanilla ice cream, softened
Per drink:
- 2 heaped tbsp batter
- 2 oz Bombarda Revenge or Drake
- 6 oz boiling water
- Cinnamon stick and grated nutmeg, to garnish
Method of Attack:
- Beat the softened butter with both sugars until light and completely smooth. Do not rush this — grainy batter makes a grainy drink.
- Beat in the spices and salt. If you are using the ice cream, fold it in last; it makes the finished drink noticeably richer.
- Pack into a jar or tub and freeze. It keeps for months and scoops straight from frozen.
- To build: put two heaped tablespoons of batter in a warmed mug. Add the rum. Top with boiling water and stir until the batter has completely dissolved.
- Garnish with a cinnamon stick and fresh nutmeg. Serve hot.
About This Recipe:
Hot buttered rum comes down from the colonial American winter table, when rum was the working spirit of the northeast and drinks were heated with a loggerhead — an iron poker left in the fire, then plunged into the mug. That is where the phrase "at loggerheads" comes from: two men, one poker, an argument.
The rum matters more than you would expect. The batter is already sweet — two kinds of sugar and butter. Most commercial rums carry added sugar of their own, and in a hot drink that lands as syrup rather than spice.
We use Revenge, our dark Jamaican spiced rum, which has real spice rather than sweetened spice and enough backbone to stand up to the butter. Drake works if you want it drier and more molasses-forward. Neither carries added sugar, no caramel colorant and no chill filtration.
Battle Notes:
Warm the mug first — a cold mug drops the temperature enough to leave the butter streaky. And use boiling water, not hot water from the tap.
More on the colonial winter table in Captain's Chronicles, or see our guide to rum punch for a crowd.
Back to Blog