# Cure what ails me with 1 magic ingredient!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cure-what-ails-me-with-1-magic-ingredient/762275>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 9, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cure-what-ails-me-with-1-magic-ingredient/762275 "2016-08-09T20:08:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cure-what-ails-me-with-1-magic-ingredient/762275/41 "2016-08-15T13:57:53Z")

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> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> A couple of hot bricks always did the trick for me: bourbon, honey, hot water. Maybe a little butter.

I was traveling through the UK on a bus tour a few summers ago and got a horrible cold. Little tiny town, in late, no chance to buy cold medicine. But the hotel had a bar. I asked for a hot toddy and the bartender in Wales didn’t know what it was, but I talked him through whiskey (it doesn’t have to be bourbon - and rum or brandy will work in a pinch) honey and hot water.

The Aussie bartender in Edinburgh knew exactly what it was (as did her Scottish coworker).

And then I got cold medicine. I think they still put the good stuff in British cold medicine because whatever was it there took care of the problem and was more reality altering than the whiskey.

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