So, answer me this, what discussion about Irish Cream is complete without a brief mention of Baileys? I’m betting nearly every person who has a liquor cabinet has a bottle somewhere in the depths. I, oddly enough, did not, so thanks go out to my Mom for donating her bottle to the cause. Baileys is what most people think of when they hear the words Irish Cream. In fact in most people’s vocabulary the terms are synonymous. And, I’ll stick my neck out there to say that this is not due solely to the fact that it is the most common Irish Cream you’ll find in the States. It’s really quite good, not as good as homemade mind you (more on that later), but really quite tasty. I cruised over to their website and, not surprisingly, they have some cocktail recipes listed. Not being one to muck around with a good thing I decided to keep it simple this go round. I tried Baileys Shaken with Ice and Baileys Over Ice, about as pure an Irish Cream experience as one can get.
Baileys Shaken with Ice is really quite nice (Wow! I’m a freaking poet!). The ice dillutes the Irish Cream just enough to mellow out the richness which I really like. Only problem is, like a lot of the cocktails I’ve made, this one disappeared much too quickly.
The Baileys Over Ice preparation is good too, but not as good as shaken with ice. The problem I had was that the first few sips were very rich, too rich for me in fact. The ice began to melt at that point and mellowed the richness, and the middle few sips were perfect. However, the tables then turned the other way. The drink became watered down quickly, due to the room temperature liqueur, which was also not so pleasant. So, basically, you have a narrow window when this drink was just right for me. As such, the quick and dirty summary is this; if you’re going to have a quick nip of Baileys I’d recommend shaking it with ice and straining in to a glass.