Down jackets and wool sweaters are great, but we all know that the best thing to warm you up in the dead of a Boston winter is booze. As the days get shorter and the temperatures start dropping, bars are bringing out hot toddies, Irish coffees, and spiked hot chocolates to help patrons brave the cold and snow. Here are 14 of the most creative and delicious hot cocktails in town to keep you warm and cozy until spring.
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14 Hot Cocktails to Soothe Boston’s Chill
Hot toddies, boozy coffee, and more

Short Path Distillery
Short Path Distillery has managed to capture the flavor of a chocolate orange in its Snow Day cocktail. House-made hot chocolate is mixed with the distillery’s own triple sec and rum and topped with a generous handful of marshmallows. This cup of chocolatey goodness will be on Short Path’s menu beginning November 23.
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River Bar
Take a break from your holiday shopping at Assembly Row with the Swarm & Fuzzy at River Bar. This whiskey and honey hot toddy gets a special bittersweet kick from Amaro Dell’Etna. It’s best enjoyed while curled up beside the outdoor fire pit, overlooking the Mystic River.
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Rosebud American Kitchen & Bar
Irish coffee is a winter staple in Boston bars, but Rosebud’s take on the classic puts most to shame. The Red Line is made with hot coffee, bourbon, Irish cream liqueur, and a cinnamon syrup. It’s topped with a healthy dollop of whipped cream and a dusting of ground cinnamon.
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Balani
Balani in Waltham serves several creative hot cocktails to warm you up. Try the autumn-appropriate Zhivago, pictured (bourbon, butternut squash syrup, lemon juice, sage tincture, maple syrup, and bitters), the fruity Druid (bourbon, Meletti amaro, Pamplemousse, lemon juice, and grapefruit bitters), or the smoky Sly Boots (brown butter-washed rum, Cynar, Laphroaig, and maple syrup).
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Abigail's
Drinkers in search of a warming libation will find three hot options on the menu at Abigail’s: a bourbon hot toddy, hot buttered bourbon, and the Baby, It’s Cold Outside, a decadent Rumplemintz-spiked hot chocolate. The whipped cream on top is particularly rich and sweet due to a secret ingredient: Bailey’s Irish Cream.
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Parla
Parla general manager Matt Schafer created his Hot Buttered Bourbon recipe while snowed in with (gasp!) no rum. It turns out that Rock & Rye is a delicious substitute, especially when combined with a brown sugar butter batter infused with cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger, allspice, and fenugreek. If you enjoy it, ask for the next hot drink from the “My Favorite Flannel” category of the menu.
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No. 9 Park
Bostonians in the know are aware that any evening that snow falls (and sticks), they can head into No. 9 Park (or its sister bar in Fort Point, Drink) for a warm Tom and Jerry. This classic Christmastime tipple dates back to the early 1800s. No. 9 Park serves it right, by mixing a whipped batter of eggs, sugar, and spices with steamed milk, rum, and Cognac – in a traditional mug, of course.
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Artisan Bistro
You’ll want to skip dessert and ask for a drink menu at Artisan Bistro, where award-winning mixologist Fraliza Gianniodis-Castillo has combined everyone’s favorite seasonal flavors into one decadent, creamy cocktail called the Lodge. It’s made with rum, butterscotch liqueur, pumpkin beer syrup, and cream, and it’s served with an apple cider donut — for dunking, of course.
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Sky Bar at YOTEL Boston
Just because it’s cold out doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy rooftop views of Boston. Curl up at YOTEL Boston’s Sky Bar with a thick blanket and a hot Smoky the Bear cocktail. This mezcal hot toddy is spiked with a chile simple syrup to create a smoky, spicy cup of warming winter goodness.
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Temazcal Tequila Cantina
While you’re in the Seaport, don’t miss Temazcal Tequila Cantina’s take on Irish coffee. The Mexican Coffee brings the cold weather classic south of the border by replacing the traditional whiskey with Patron X/O Café and adding cinnamon. It’s topped with a decadent helping of whipped cream and a dusting of ground cinnamon.
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Eastern Standard
While Eastern Standard hasn’t released its winter menu yet — which will certainly contain a couple of brand-new hot cocktails — the bar has a long list of hot drinks from years past that the bartenders are happy to fix at any time. The Sid & Nancy (pictured) is a creamy mixture of Plantation rum, cognac, spiced syrup, and steamed half and half that was named as a tribute to the spot’s previous life as legendary punk venue the Rathskeller. Or try the World’s End Toddy, a creative take on mulled wine made with ruby port, Demerara syrup, smoky Laphroaig Scotch, lemon juice, and bitters.
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Five Horses Tavern
Hot apple cider is a New England winter staple, and Five Horses Tavern knows that the only thing that could possibly make it better is an ounce or two of booze. The bar’ll spike your hot cider with your choice of vanilla vodka, Irish whiskey, or maple bourbon.
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Bully Boy Distillers
Bully Boy Distillers is serving up a menu of seasonal cocktails made with its own spirits, including this warming tea cocktail, which blends Bully Boy’s popular Amaro with hot black tea, fig, cinnamon, and orange.
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The Haven
Every year you can look forward to two warming drinks on the Haven’s cocktail menu: mulled wine and the Sherlock Holmes. The latter is a bracing mix of mango and clove-infused Scotch, honey liqueur, smoky lapsang souchong tea, and lemon, served in a glass drinking horn worthy of a Viking. The cocktail’s name, like that of every drink on the Haven’s menu, is a nod to Scotland (birthplace of Arthur Conan Doyle).
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