The boy and his poison: The Black Stripe

It was towards the end of last week when, hunched feverishly next to a radiator (sinus exploding/head imploding) it dawned on me… cold and flu remedies just haven't been progressing at the same pace as the rest of modern medicine. I just can't believe that on one hand we have MRI scanners whilst on the other we're in the medical dark ages of paracetamol and decongestants so ineffective you can't even make crystal meth from them anymore.

It was this flu-addled insight that set me on the path of discovering the ultimate flu-crushing tipple and by day two I'd found it. Whilst indisputably the classic hot toddy reigns supreme (especially with a bit of ginger) I'm finding viruses these days are increasingly resilient to its powers. This is where the Black Stripe comes in.

Full of mood enhancing throat-soothing rum, antibacterial manuka honey and a grating of that mind bending psychoactive nutmeg. If it doesn't fix the problem, I can guarantee after three you won't be as worried about it:

You'll need:

• 3oz of dark rum
• 2 tsp of manuka honey (molasses if you want to be a purist)
• hot water
• grated nutmeg

Stir it:

• put two tsp of honey into a glass and melt with a little hot water
• add your rum and top up with more hot water
• stir then grate a little nutmeg on top