While Winter brings us the festive season, it also brings with it cold and flu. Even worse, it brings the dreaded and deadly manflu. A very rare strain of the ‘regular’ flu which has been known to strike down even the manliest of men. Many (men) describe the symptoms of manflu has being similar to that of child-birth. Personally I suspect it is worse. I’ve had the manflu and I’ve had to take to the bed for days with nothing but Netflix and prayers to see me through. The solution? Honey Vodka Shots. We’ve all been told that a hot Whiskey works wonders for a cold and I’ll not dispute generations of Irish know how. There is however an alternative for those who are not too fond of the Whiskey. The Polish have their own version of a hot Whiskey, a drink called Krupnik which is thought to work similar to Lempsip (I totally made that up). It’s a sweet Vodka based drink combined with the goodness of lemons, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. There are plenty of variations of it but here’s one which I find quite tasty. So if you do need to ward off the effects of a life threatening cold here’s how to do it with Vodka.

Honey Vodka Shots

Ingredients

(Recipe makes 1.25 litres or about 20 or so shots)

• 400g of sugar  

• 30ml of cold water

• I litre of boiling water (kettle is fine)

• 2 cloves

• 1 cinnamon stick

• Pinch of nutmeg

• Juice and zest of one lemon

• 300g honey

• 500ml of your vodka of choice

• 2tsp of allspice

Instructions

• Put the sugar and water in a pot over a gentle heat and allow the sugar to dissolve.

• Once dissolved, allow the sugar to caramelise (without burning) and then slowly add the boiling water.

• Add the allspice, cinnamon stick, cloves, lemon juice, lemon zest and return to the boil.

• Next add the honey, stirring until it dissolves.

• Take off the heat and add the vodka.

• Strain the mixture and allow to cool slightly before serving in shot glasses.

 Make sure to blow your nose and sniffle every five to seven minutes to justify polishing off the entire batch. Maybe keep some Paracetamol to hand in case your cold is worse in the morning!