I suspect it may be "flip". I found an article on realbeer.com that says:

<<One of the most widespread versions of beer mixing was "Flip". John Adams reported a person spending a day in the tavern would find it full of people drinking drams of flip, carousing, and swearing. This primarily American drink was found in England but with not near the frequency it was served up in the colonies. The earliest mention of Flip is thought to be in 1690, but the oldest reference in print was the December 1704 edition of the New England Almanac

"The days are short, the weather's cold,
By tavern fires tales are told.
Some ask for dram when first come in,
Others with flip and bounce begin."

What was this drink? How was it made? Fortunately, our forefathers wrote about everything, flip included. The most common recipe called for

"A great pewter mug or earthen pitcher filled two-thirds full of strong beer; sweetened with sugar, molasses, or dried pumpkin, according to individual taste or capabilities; and flavored with `a dash' -about a gill- of New England rum. Into this mixture a red hot loggerhead, made of iron and heated in the fire, was thrust."

Other recipes could be found as regional variations. Lord May of Canton, Massachusetts devised his own version which started with four pounds of sugar and beat in four eggs, to this he added one pint of cream and let it age for two days. When people ordered a flip he would fill a quart mug two-thirds full of beer then added four large spoonfuls of his aged mixture, stirred it with the glowing loggerhead and added a gill of rum.>>
www.realbeer.com/library/a.../mixed.php

The time period and ingredients description are just about right.