When I got back to Ithaca a few weeks ago, I realized that the snow and wind chill here made sub-freezing D.C. seem positively balmy (although, with all the body heat left over from Inauguration, it’s probably warmed up by now).

It was so cold in Portland, Ore., that a state of emergency was declared because scads of cars — abandoned by owners gone in search of warmer climates — were blocking the roads, and it was still warmer there.

This cold has, however, given me a chance to try something I’d always wanted to make: the Hot Toddy.

Like the Mint Julep and the Manhattan, the Hot Toddy was something I read about growing up, making my markers of 100-year-old drinks that hadn’t been popular since the 1950s.

However, the joy of growing up is discovering what you can safely taste and forget (the Curzon, made of grapefruit juice and crème de cacao, and arguably the worst thing I’ve ever made) and what’s really worth keeping. The Toddy is the latter:

4 oz water

Thin lemon slice or twist

The Hot Toddy is easy. Start by putting the cloves in a mug (a beer stein, because it is clear, shows off the drink best, but may be too large.) Heat the water to just-boiling in a saucepan, then pour water into the mug, adding the honey or sugar until dissolved.

Once you’ve done that, pour in the dark liquor of your choice. While there is no one right base for a Toddy, there are certainly wrong ones, which you’ll find out soon enough. Some bourbons will work well with the drink, but others (particularly Evan Williams, my default mixing bourbon) will be too sweet, clashing with the honey and cloves rather than complementing them.

An already-honeyed scotch might add the perfect smoky note to the drink, but an overly-loamy one could turn your Toddy into sweetened seaweed.

My personal favorite is a nice, mellow brandy; I used Reynal VSOP, which, despite being cheaper than even a discount brandy like Korbel (though not quite as cheap as E&J), is surprisingly decent in mixed drinks.

Garnish the drink with a thin slice of lemon or a lemon twist, and shake a little nutmeg or cinnamon over the top before serving.

The nice thing about the Toddy is that it is nearly infinitely variable. Besides the liquors I’ve already mentioned, you can substitute nearly anything as the base ingredient (rum and applejack are fairly popular.)

It’s a gentle, sweet, comfort food kind of drink, something I can imagine drinking with a soup or using to warm up after gorge exploring.

A nice variation is the Big Red Toddy, which substitutes heated Cornell cider for water and sugar, using brandy as the base.