Options for warming up after shoveling

So, you just got done shoveling, you are a little cold and want to warm up. Here are some drinks that'll get your blood flowing again.

• A Hot Toddy is a pretty good drink for warming up.

A traditional Hot Toddy recipe calls for a shot of scotch, with sugar or honey, a slice of lemon, some clove, maybe a cinnamon stick, and topped off with boiling (or just really hot) water.

An English version uses black tea instead of plain hot water.

• Mulled wine is popular in Europe.

Basically take some red wine and heat it up (don't boil it). Putting it over a double boiler works really well. As you are heating it you can add some spices including cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, honey or sugar. For an added kick, you can "irish it up a bit" and add a shot of whatever you like. Rum will sweeten it up nicely.

• Mulled mead is really good.

Mead, the delicious drink made from fermented honey, lends itself really well to heating up. Again, don't boil it. You can flavor mead with almost anything, from spices to fruits.

Chaucer's Mead actually comes with a spice bag for adding to the Mead if you choose to serve it heated and spiced.

• Warm up your beer.

You can even heat up your beer to temperatures that you'd normally drink tea at. Unibroue Brewery in Canada makes a beer called Quelque Chose, which is designed to be drank either cold, warm, or hot. I've had it both cold and hot and both were equally good. Drinking beer hot is a unique experience, and can seem odd. Certain beers will lend themselves to being drank hot, others will probably be really disgusting.

Some suggestions for mulled beer are Belgian Abbey ales, most likely a tripel. Tart/sour beers and some fruit beers. Lindemans Framboise will probably lend itself nicely to being heated.

• Hot Chocolate with a shot of ____

Back in my youthful indiscretion days, one of my favorite drinks was Dairy Queen hot chocolate with a dash of Rumple Minze peppermint schnapps. We used to call it a Peppermint Paddy. You could use any peppermint schnapps, however Rumple Minze is 100 proof and has more alcohol than most other schnapps.

Hot chocolate lends itself well to most any flavored shot, as you've probably had a chocolate covered "whatever flavored schnapps you can find in your house" on valentines day before.

Watermelon may be pushing it though.

• Coffee and___

Jameson, Jack, Jim... any whiskey. It doesn't have to be the finest whiskey and it doesn't have to be the best coffee. Coffee also holds schnapps pretty good.

So, when you come in from the cold, don't be afraid to warm yourself up with some libations. Don't be afraid to heat it up. Don't be afraid to add a shot to it.

Heck, it's a pretty cold walk from the parking lot to the front door, so you deserve to heat yourself up with something good.