Irish Coffee

I’ve enjoyed my week off and my eyes are nearly fully healed so I’m ready to dive back in to cocktail hacking.  Since this Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day it seemed only logical that I had to do an Ireland themed cocktail of some kind for this week.  But what to choose?  I already covered Irish Cream a while back, so that wasn’t a good option.  I could certainly go with the bar favorite the Irish Car Bomb but, as you well know, I’m not a huge beer fan.  Although I don’t hate Irish Car Bombs, I wasn’t feeling it for this week.  It’s early spring so still a bit cold thus it seemed a hot cocktail would fit well.  There was an obvious choice.  The classic Irish Coffee.

Picture courtesy of Ilco on sxc.hu
Picture courtesy of Ilco on sxc.hu

Now, I’ll admit to you.  I don’t generally like coffee.  Irish Coffee I think might be the exception though.  How can you not like sweetened coffee with whiskey and cream?  It’s like a hot beverage from heaven.  There is going to be a bit of a learning curve though as I really don’t even know how to make a good cup of coffee.  Oh well, certain sacrifices must be made in the name of science.

As has become my tradition I’m going to start with the Joy of Mixology recipe.  Regan explains that the Irish Coffee was created by Joe Sheridan, a bartender at Shannon Airport in Ireland, in the 1940s.  The drink really started to catch on when it was brought back to California by a reporter.  The Buena Vista in San Francisco was the Irish Coffee’s first landing in the US.  They now claim to sell over 1,500 per day.

Irish Coffee (Joy of Mixology)
2 oz Irish Whiskey
4-5 oz Hot Coffee
Simple Syrup to Taste
Whipped Cream
1) Build in an Irish Coffee glass.
2) Float whipped cream on top.

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