As cold and flu season approaches, we’re always looking for ways to stay healthy and to get better as quickly as possible when any nasty bug does get in our system. As much as we love the seasons changing and the cooler weather, we do not like feeling sick.
While there are many tried and true cold medicines on store shelves, many of them don’t taste too great. When you’re already feeling sick, who wants to force down a spoonful of something that makes you want to gag? Yeah, not us.
Many of these cold and flu medicines can also leave you feeling drowsy. If you’re going to have the effects of drinking alcohol from your cough syrup, you might as well be drinking alcohol, right?
If it’s a cough that you’re suffering from, you probably want to skip the cough drops at night. We’d be likely to fall asleep with one in our mouth, and that would either mean waking up with it stuck to our pillow or our hair in the morning or accidentally choking on it. Not good.
We recently came across a truly grown-up solution to our problems. It almost makes us look forward to cold and flu season so that we have an excuse to drink it. Almost.
Yes, this is a DIY drink, a nightcap that’s perfect for soothing a scratchy throat.
The key ingredient in this drink is honey. If you’re not keen on alcohol, you could simply mix honey and hot water or warm milk and sip that before bed to soothe your throat, but if you are keen on alcohol, read on.
We’re adding bourbon to our honey. Yes, really. While the honey and lemon combo in this cocktail will soothe your throat, the bourbon makes it a truly grown-up DIY cough syrup.
To make the Bourbon Cough Syrup (for adults only), you’ll need:
- 2 oz Bourbon
- 2 oz lemon juice (about half a lemon)
- 2-4 oz water (optional)
- 1 tbsp honey
Combine the first 3 ingredients in your glass of choice and heat in the microwave for 45 seconds. Add the honey, whisk well, and return to the microwave for another 45 seconds.
To see this cough syrup come together, watch the video below.
Sip this cough syrup before bed to ease your cold symptoms, but even in you’re perfectly healthy, you can still enjoy it as a delicious nightcap.
What are your favorite cold and flu remedies? Are you going to try making this cough syrup?