Cream As Rich As An Irish Brogue...

The last week of January is traditionally National Irish Coffee Week in America, and so I shall be celebrating it right here in freezing cold Yorkshire! I originally assumed that Irish Coffee was a much older drink than it actually is. The cocktail was created in 1942 by Joe Sheridan, a barman who worked at a restaurant in Foynes, County Limerick during World War II. Foynes was an important port for flying boats, particularly American ones who would arrive in Foynes after an 18 hour flight and be more than grateful for a nice warm drink to hold. Adding whiskey to tea was nothing new in Ireland, but Americans preferred to drink coffee over tea, and so it is for these exhausted pilots that Sheridan came up with the idea of alcoholic coffee. The drink was an immediate hit, and reputedly after handing a round out, one of the pilots asked 'Is this Brazilian coffee?' to which Sheridan replied 'No, that's Irish coffee.' and thus the cocktail was born. I think this in an excellent origin story, really nice and heartwarming. Joe Sheridan's original coffee recipe is also beautifully poetic;

cream as rich as an Irish brogue;  

coffee as strong as a friendly hand; 

sugar as sweet as the tongue of a rogue; 

whiskey as smooth as the wit of the land.

Irish coffee went on to become an international success thanks to the travel writer Stanton Delaplane  who brought the recipe back from Ireland to Jack Koeppler, who owned the Beuna Vista restaurant in San Francisco  To begin with Koeppler couldn't get the cream to stop sinking to the bottom of the glass, prompting Delaplane to go back to Ireland for some more practice and advice, but eventually they perfected the recipe and the Buena Vista has been world famous for Irish Coffees ever since, reputedly making up to 2000 a day!

With my heart sufficiently thawed towards this drink, I attempted my own Irish coffee. I don't really like whiskey, and I'm not that keen on coffee either, being the tea lover that I am, and so I was very unsure about Irish coffee. Verdict; warm, tasty, and best of all, alcoholic! There's nothing better than a beer jacket to take the edge off of the winter chill, and this drink is an excellent means to that particular end. Nowhere near as strong as a hot buttered rum, being one measure of alcohol as opposed to the recommended 50/50 dynamic suggested for a hot buttered rum, but undeniably comforting and delicious. A perfect after dinner drink, or a perfect nightcap to fortify you for the cold walk home.

References

Top image http://www.chow.com/recipes/10219-irish-coffee

General 1. http://www.the-irish-path.com/irish-coffee-recipe.html

2. http://www.irelandwhiskeytrail.com/irish_coffee_history_and_recipes.php

3. http://www.streetdirectory.com/food_editorials/beverages/coffee/how_to_make_an_irish_coffee.html