Once in college when I was sick....

[johno]

***Yet another random life story***

As a freshman in college I was puttering through the local convenience/liquor shop. Gathering ginger ale, honey, and lemon juice. Hacking my lungs up and sneezing my brains out, while I shopped.

When I got the counter, the old man running the place added a pint flask of whiskey to the pile.

"I know what you're making, you'll need this too."

I looked at him in amazement, because he had a rep for being hard core about selling alcohol to underage folks.

"It's medicinal. You don't want to drink this stuff for real"

After I was well, I tried it straight and boy was he right. It was some of the worst whiskey I've ever had.

Comments

What was the drinking age then?

[zyxwvut.livejournal.com]

I know that you are 8+ years older than me; it's a matter of public record.

So were you not legal to drink, as a college student?

Z

P.S.: What do you call that concoction?

[johno.livejournal.com]

Same diff:

honey to sooth the throat
Lemon to cut the phlegm
tea to help the sinuses
alcohol to help you sleep/suppress the cough.

Re: What was the drinking age then?

[johno.livejournal.com]

1979-83 college.

I was caught in the drinking age bind.

Just before I turned 18, MI raised the legal age to 19.
Just before I turned 19, the US raised the legal age to 21.

I started college in 1979, at 17. I turned 18 at the end of my first month at school.

[johno.livejournal.com]

Now I wonder why they did that???? ;)

[lysana.livejournal.com]

So you combined all four ingredients? Hm. My husband taught me a recipe that his family doctor gave his parents when he had a bad cough. It didn't involve ginger ale. Just one third of each of the other three ingredients. White wine works about as well when dosing a small child, as 1/3 of a spoonful of whisky is enough to make a baby drunk.

[mdlbear]

Our family recipe was just honey and lemon juice; OTOH this was in the days when cough syrup was invariably alcohol-based, so the honey and lemon mix was just for when you didn't want to be sleepy (e.g., heading off for school). There was also a bottle of blackberry brandy "for medicinal purposes" which was sweet enough on its own.

Re: What was the drinking age then?

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

The drinking age in Massachusetts was 20 - until right before I turned 20; then it went up to 21. Grrrrrr....... So not fair. ;(

The MA drinking age went to 21 at the end of '82 or early '83. MA stayed out of synch with the rest of the US until it buckled under some pressure....

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

In what proportions? I've never done a homemade remedy for sickness.

Though "lemon to cut the phlegm"-- OH yes. We frequently passed around a bottle of RealLemon concentrated lemon juice to clear our voices during shows, back when I was doing musical theatre and such. It's like Dran-O for your singing voice. Nasty, but it works like *nothing* else.

[johno.livejournal.com]

3-5 parts tea/ginger ale
1-3 parts honey
1 part lemon
.5 -2 parts alcohol

Warm the tea/ginger ale,
slowly add the honey.

don't even come close to boiling the mix.

Allow to cool to just above normal warm liquid temp, add lemon.

Just before drinking add alcohol.

As others have mentioned the parts of alcohol are mainly based on who's getting it and why.

A little bit acts as a cough suppressant, more as a soporific.

[xsongbirdx.livejournal.com]

Wow. That was very cool of him to do that!

[spiderdust.livejournal.com]

Someone once told me (back when I lived in the South) to use Rock & Rye (from what I remember, it's a sweetened rye whiskey with rock candy in the bottle) & orange juice for a cold remedy.

Don't leave us hanging...

[hazelchaz]

...what whiskey was it?

Re: Don't leave us hanging...

[johno.livejournal.com]

I have no clue.

Something that cost $1 a flask in 1979/80...