Hot Brandy Sling

Anleitung zur Bereitung Amerikanischer Eis-Getraenke by The Continental Bodega Company (1898, p.9) — Anleitung Amerikanischer Eis-Getraenke 1898

1. Dissolve a sugar cube with hot water, add cognac, fill with hot water, mix with a spoon, sprinkle with nutmeg, and serve.

Garnish: Nutmeg

New and Improved Bartenders' Manual by Harry Johnson (1900, p.241) — Hot

1. Dissolve the sugar with a little hot water.
2. Add the brandy and fill up with hot water.
3. Stir up with a spoon.
4. Grate nutmeg on top and serve.
5. Add a slice of lemon if the customer desires it.

Garnish: Nutmeg, optional lemon slice

Nose

Warm brandy and nutmeg create a familiar winter mixed-drink aroma, with lemon optional rather than defining.

Palate

This is a direct hot sling, softer and rounder than the whiskey equivalents but still clearly part of the same dressed warm-service line.

Finish

The finish is warm, softly spiced, and spirit-led.

Summary

A classic hot brandy sling preserving the plain but dressed warm-service branch.

The optional lemon shows how customer choice continues to shape even old family forms. These drinks are not rigid templates but service frameworks.

The key distinction from punch remains scale and directness. This is a glass-built sling, not a bowl or a more elaborately citrused hot punch.

Jack's Manual by J. A. Grohusko (1910, p.56)

1. Build the sugar and brandy in a glass.
2. Fill with hot water, grate nutmeg on top, and serve.

Garnish: Grated nutmeg

Ice: None

Bartenders' Guide: How to Mix Drinks by Wehman Bros. (1912, p.64)

1. Combine the sugar and brandy, fill the glass two-thirds full of hot water, stir well, add a twisted piece of lemon peel, grate nutmeg on top, and serve.

The Up-to-Date Bartender's Guide by Harry Montague (1913, p.40)

1. Prepare the drink as for Brandy Sling, substituting hot water for ice.
2. Serve hot with lemon peel and grated nutmeg.

Garnish: Lemon peel and nutmeg

Source is explicitly substitution-based.