The hot toddy may not have originated in Dixie, but Southerners have long since adopted the drink. In the late 1700s, Virginia planters prepared a weaker variation that could be sipped throughout the workday. Later Mark Twain became a devotee of the libation, drinking one each night before bed. Today, Todd Thrasher, the drinks expert behind PX Lounge in Alexandria, Virginia, relies on one of the toddy’s original purposes as a medicinal cure-all. “It happened last year,” Thrasher says. “The whole family got sick. Me first, then my two-year-old son, then the nanny, then my wife, which made it thirty times worse.” In an effort to speed his wife’s recovery, he concocted a soothing combination of spiced rum, honey, ginger, and lemon. Even if this toddy doesn’t cure what ails you, at least it will make you forget about it for a while. “I told my wife, ‘Honey Bunny, I promise this will make you feel better.’”