Hot Buttered Rye is a mug full of heaven

Harvest bar manager Stacie Stewart created the Hot Buttered Rye cocktail for the restaurant. (Credit: Sam Upshaw, the Courier-Journal)

Stacie Stewart, bar manager at Harvest restaurant, says one of her cocktail recipes nearly got her mom, Lynn Stewart, of Manitou, Ky., picked up for disturbing the peace.

It seems that last summer Southern Living — the same magazine that has all the Southland in an uproar about which is the South’s tastiest town (go to southernliving.com/tasty to vote for Louisville) — asked Stacie to submit some winter cocktail ideas for the December issue. But there was some doubt whether Stewart’s submission — a recipe for Hot Buttered Rye — would make the editorial cut.

For days Stewart’s mom haunted the aisles of a local supermarket waiting for the issue to arrive on the shelves. When it finally did, and she located Stacie’s recipe, she raised a proud and mighty maternal ruckus that attracted quite a bit of attention. (Happily, all was forgiven when she started buying up as many copies as she could carry.)

Stewart’s Hot Buttered Rye is well worth a bit of ruckus. It’s one of those warm, comforting drinks so good that after a couple of sips you may find yourself wishing that winter would last forever.

In keeping with Harvest’s farm-to-table mission, Stewart’s Hot Buttered Rye uses ingredients drawn from Louisville’s food shed. (By the way, the version published in Southern Living is an adaptation suited for home use; to experience the authentic, artisanal cocktail as Stewart makes it, you’ll need to head over to Harvest, 624 E. Market St.)

For the main spirit, Stewart chose Michter’s Rye, an old-fashioned small-batch rye distilled in Bardstown, that she describes as having the same bracing, salty aroma you’d expect to find in an Islay scotch. To smooth the rough edges, she adds a dollop of Art in the Age Snap, an artisanal spirit that captures the essence of ginger snaps in a bottle (ingredients include blackstrap molasses, clove, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and, of course, ginger).

By hand (since Harvest’s Kitchen Aid mixer is usually booked up) she whips heavy cream and Indiana maple syrup until it comes to a thick, buttery consistency. Then she fills a coffee cup with the warm spirits and covers them with a layer of the maple-butter, and adds a dash of cinnamon.

Lift the cup to your lips for the first slow sip, and the first thing you experience is the chilly, buttery, fragrant, slightly sweet butter — but then the hot spirits poke through and your mouth receives a broth sent down from heaven.

I’d call it a curative drink, but there’s nothing medicinal about Stewart’s Hot Buttered Rye, and no reason to wait until you have some condition that needs curing. Rather, this is one of those joyous cocktails that foster calm contemplation, and a sense that everything is right with the world. Drink it with warm scones, a sorghum cookie or some chocolate pumpkin bread, and you’ll be as resolute in the face of rain, sleet or snow as the most dedicated postman who ever lived.

Is there a food or cooking gadget you love? Email freelance columnist Marty Rosen at cjdining@gmail.com.