Yup, grandma used to make this for us, apparently it works as well, perhaps better than NyQuil.
This Flu Season, Consider Whiskey over Modern Medicine
Jeremy Glass
Forget everything you've ever known about modern medicine and dump all your fancy pills down the toilet; there's a new flu-fighter in town and his name is whiskey. In a recent article by The Kitchnn, we're introduced to Bourbon Cough Syrup for Grownups. Quite different than the other grown-up cough syrup we're used to hearing about in modern music, this recipe calls for four simple ingredients: two ounces of bourbon, half a lemon, four ounces of water, and one tablespoon honey.
While anecdotally considered an effective painkiller, consider this 1941 article from TIME magazine in which whiskey is referred to as "one of the cheapest and best painkillers known to man." In the piece, Whiskey for Pain, two doctors reported that only a few ounces of booze raised their "'threshold' of pain 45% for two hours."
The Kitchnn nails it by giving out this simple little recipe, while noting that it's really the honey that does the trick, as it acts as a natural chest decongestant.