There’s something unsettling about drinking eggnog on a 35-degree day. We’ll take our mulled wine and hot toddies in July, thanks.
All around town, cocktails with fruity elixirs and paper brollies have given way to buttery rum and cinnamon sticks, all with the intention of getting you nice and toasted. I mean, toasty. Yes… toasty.
Hot bevvies are the perfect remedy for shaking off those winter chills. Once you’re snug as a bug in a cosy bar, warm your winter evenings by ordering one of these cold weather cocktails.
Mrs J Rabbits
Woolloongabba
Mrs J Rabbits’ seasonal cocktail lists always read more like a fairytale novel than a drinks menu, and this winter’s is no different. The Jabberwocky is a fiery concoction with a bite to it, combining gin, cognac, strawberry, Earl Grey tea, rhubarb and sherry for a drink that will warm your cockles. It even comes with a side of theatrics, with the bartender literally setting it on fire and pouring it between two copper pots before serving it up in an antique teacup.
Regatta Hotel
Toowong
Not content with just pouring one type of mulled wine, the Regatta Hotel has an entire mulled wine trolley doing the rounds every Sunday during winter, ladelling out classic mulled wine, mulled apple cinnamon cider, hot honey mead and mulled rosé. If you can’t make it on a Sunday, you can get just one kind of mulled wine in the Courtyard any other day of the week, but why would you want to stop at one?
Warehouse 25
Milton
If you’re not acquainted with the joys of a hot toddy, well, Warehouse 25 is here to school you—or not, because they’ve swapped out the classic ingredient of scotch for their own lavender and lemon myrtle gin. Spiced up with blackberries, cinnamon, lemon juice, agave syrup and more spices, it’ll leave you more obsessed with gin than ever before.
The Matriarch
Newstead
Serve up mulled wine straight out of a pot? The Matriarch would never do something so ordinary, instead they’ll bring it to you in a cute teapot, perfectly matched to their garden party decor. It serves two, so make sure you take a fellow mulled wine lover for this one—we’d say keep it all for yourself, but no one wants their mulled wine going cold now, do they?
The End
West End
The End comes through with some epic winter warmers every year, and we love them for it. This year there’s more than one toasty sip to wrap your hands around, so you’ve got double the reasons to head in. Try the hot toddy first, with Irish whiskey, freshly squeezed lemon, locally sourced honey, lemon grass, ginger and clove, then move on to the hot buttered rum, with spiced rum, hazelnut butter, wattle toffee liqueur, vanilla and fresh grated nutmeg. Which is our favourite? Hmm, we might need to try them again (and again) to really be sure...
Eleven Bridges
South Brisbane
Sure, hot wine is great, but have you tried hot gin? Eleven Bridges have added a toe-tingling winter bevvy to their gin-focused menu, with a hot buttered gin on the list for the cooler months. Slowly brewed with oak aged gin, orange, cinnamon, clove and star anise, it’s the gin cocktail we never knew we needed.
Fitz + Potts
Nundah
If there was ever a place to wrap yourself in a crochet blanket and sip mulled wine by a fire electric heater, it’s Fitz + Potts. This suburban spot knows we start shivering as soon as the temperature dips below 21 degrees, so they make a habit of brewing mulled wine as soon as the chill sets in. Still cold? Try their boozy chai instead.
Too early for booze? Get one of Brisbane’s best hot chocolates instead.
Image credit: NIRA Creative, The Matriarch