warm and boozy cinnamon honey milk

Mead. There's just something so quaint about it. When I first told a friend about mead, also known as honey wine, she mused that it sounded like something a character from a Tolkien novel would drink. Indeed, this medieval and mellifluous drink has been around for thousands of years, and is, I feel, one fit for both hobbits and humans.

One of the beverages I grew up having was warm milk with a hint of honey. As a child, it just made milk more palatable for me. Armed with a bottle of sweet, liqueur-strength mead, and with Christmas and New Year's coming up, I decided to give this childhood drink an adult makeover. With an additional touch of cinnamon, this is a lovely warm alcoholic beverage, great for the festive season - and beyond.

warm and boozy cinnamon honey milk, made with liqueur mead.

You will note that the following recipe doesn't have ingredient amounts. I hesitate here as the sweetness and intensity of mead can vary from brand to brand. If you do want a reference, however, the one I used was Maxwell's Liqueur Mead, which is sweet, flavoursome and has an alcohol percentage of 20%. I used a 30ml shot of the mead for 200ml of milk. Feel free to adjust it to your taste.

warm and boozy cinnamon honey milk

milk
liqueur mead
cinnamon

- Warm milk in a saucepan with a cinnamon stick, or a pinch of cinnamon powder. Let it simmer very gently, stirring, but do not bring to boil.
- Remove from heat and add liqueur mead.
- Strain out any curdled clumps* and pour into mugs. Thermo ones which retain heat would be particularly good.
- Sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon, if desired.

*I would be interested in experimenting with a 3:1 ratio of milk and cream to see if that will fix the curdling issue. Not only that, it'll be richer and tastier!

Notes:
You can use mead that isn't liqueur-strength, it just won't be as boozy!
If the mead you have isn't very sweet, or if you would like a sweeter drink, feel free to add a little honey to the milk as it simmers.
If you feel like a cold drink, you could improvise and make a boozy cinnamon and honey milkshake instead!

This warm and boozy cinnamon honey milk is soothing and harmonious in its constitution. Just the kind of drink you want on a cold night, curled up with a good book in bed. Or while having a chat with an old friend as you both sink into bean bags, hands wrapped around those toasty mugs. Cuddly cats and flickering fireplaces may also make an appearance. I'll leave you to it...

a warm, fragrant cocktail of milk, cinnamon, and mead.