A nightcap, alas, just ensures that I will wake up again at 2 AM. I love to drink but I’m under no illusions about alcohol’s effect on my sleep.
A nightcap is usually served in the kitchen or dining room of one’s home.
Served anywhere else I would refer to it as « one for the road ».
XO Cognac in warmed snifter, thank you.
Mixed drinks are for unsophisticated palates incapable of savoring the essence of distilled spirits.
1
It’s like saying pasta is for unsophisticated people who can’t appreciate the essence of flour and raw eggs.
6
I like a nice Cadbury's "drinking chocolate" a.k.a. hot chocolate –a childhood habit that will never die!
2
@S.C.
Add a shot of amber rum!
I like to keep it smooth, sweet and simple. A fruit juice (cranberry, orange, mango or passion fruit), simple clear liquor (vodka and/or triple sec) and, recently, a few drops of grenadine. But learn from my own experience: when I stopped taking a nightcap (at home and not at a bar), I lost between 20 to 30 pounds. When I resumed, I gained it all back. So unless you're preparing for the long winter hibernation, a night cap may be a calming infuence, but it certainly keeps on the weight.
5
Perhaps boring and in no way enlightening for most but I go for a well chilled goblet of Italian mineral water (con gas) and a nice squeezed wedge of lemon.
7
I like warm milk, or else a warm cup of homemade Golden Milk (Bring some cardamom pods, black peppercorns and water to a boil, along with grated fresh ginger and fresh turmeric... then add milk, some decaf black tea bags...remove from heat, and cover and steep for a few minutes. Then strain the spices, ginger and turmeric and enjoy!)
A warm glass of 2% milk suits me just fine.
9
One vote for a small glass of Grand Mariner.
I've heard it's the nightcap in heaven...
11
For truly a good nights sleep, I find the best nightcap is a shot of distilled water in my sleep apnea machine.
16
Peppermint tea is good for digestion. (no alcohol)
14
Why over think this? A finger or two of single malt scotch bloomed with a few drops of water.
16
When I was in graduate school, I had a very nice stereo system and a large suite in a small dorm I shared with a roommate. Many nights, after many hours of study, eight or ten of us, would gather in our suite, put Miles Davis or some such LP on the stereo, and slowly sip a scotch or sherry. No talking, just music. At the end, everyone would leave without a word.
45
The great thing about the rule of nightcaps—that you should only have one—is that it’s the last drink of the night, and so by definition, there can only be one. Now I’ll go pour myself a bourbon. I reserve the right to wait and decide if it’s a nightcap when I’m done with it.
29
Alcohol is a wonderful thing, in sensible quantities, and if I'm tempted to be a scold on any subject it's certainly not on drinking. However (you knew a "however" was coming), I urge anyone who values good sleep and expects it to follow drinking alcohol to look into recent sleep research. (Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker, PhD., is an excellent overview.) There's a difference between initially falling asleep easily, which a nightcap is great for, and enjoying deep, restorative sleep throughout the night, which, alas, alcohol sabotages.
36
In the cooler autumn, through winter and early spring, I prefer a hot toddy- made with bourbon- to drink by the bedside while reading.
17
@ JA MI
I love wine, cognac that does not scratch the throat, Mimosa, and Bloody Mary, but having a night cap never attracted me. In one sitting I can drink up to 1/2 liter of wine, making it 60 to 65 milliliters (about 2 US fl. oz) pure alcohol.
My equivalent of a night cap is a small Honduran (presumably) hand-made cigar, that takes about 30 minutes to smoke and makes me ready to turn-in for the night.