Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks by William Terrington (1869, p.195) — Terrington 1869

1 lemonlemon juice acid
1 bottlesherry or port base
2.5 pintswater dilution
1 dropambergris essence — essence of ambergrisother
nutmeg — Grated.other
10 dropsvanilla essence — essence of vanillaother
1 lemonoleo-saccharum — lemon peel rubbed on sugarsweetener
sugar — Sweeten to taste.sweetener
  1. Combine the sherry or port, water, lemon juice, rubbed peel sugar, and grated nutmeg.
  2. Add either the ambergris essence or the vanilla essence.
  3. Sweeten to taste, warm the mixture, and serve hot.

Garnish: Grated nutmeg.

This is an especially useful witness to Victorian perfume-like flavor accents in hot wine service.

The aromatic essence choice materially changes the drink's identity while leaving the base negus structure intact.

See also: Good Bishop, Toddy, Mulled Egg-wine

The recipe allows either a single drop of ambergris essence or ten drops of vanilla essence.