Irish Coffee

February 22, 2010 (Day 23) — Irish Coffee

First, let me apologize for no updates over the weekend. I think I’ve figured out that WordPress just really doesn’t like Chrome for Mac, that’s why I kept crashing. I’m now writing in Firefox, so hopefully I can get my weekend posts up in short order to follow tonight’s regularly scheduled cocktail.

It’s Monday night. That means the first day back from the work week, and if you live in southwest Kansas, the second day of snow falling around the area. I’m really starting to wonder what the ground actually looks like under all that white. But, the colder it is, the more likely I am to make coffee-based cocktails, which are some of my personal favorites.

And of course, the granddaddy of all coffee cocktails is none other than the Irish Coffee. Now, I’m not talking about the easy shortcut of coffee plus Bailey’s. I’m talking the REAL thing. But, since you all know how much of a sucker I am for history, we’ll start off little bit of background on Irish Coffee from viewlondon.co.uk:

A potent concoction invented at Shannon airport in the 1940s at a time when it was a major hub for transatlantic flying boat flights. In 1943 a flying boat took off, encountered a vicious storm and turned back. The weather grew worse however, so upon landing the passengers were ushered back into the terminal building. Legend has it that the on-duty chef threw some cream, sugar and Irish Whiskey together to comfort the passengers. When asked by one of the passengers if it was Brazilian coffee, he replied, No, that’s Irish Coffee.

To make an Irish Coffee, you’ll need a large (60 ml) shot of Irish whiskey, two teaspoons of light brown sugar, some whipped cream and some hot filter coffee. Rinse the glass with boiling water, then mix the coffee, whiskey and sugar. Carefully spoon the cream on top of the mixture, without mixing it. The idea is to drink the coffee through the cream.

Simple enough. I made a couple small changes for personal taste. Here’s the Irish Coffee I made:

• 1 cup hot, STRONG filter coffee
• 2 oz Irish whiskey
• 2 oz brown sugar syrup
• Dollop of whipped cream

Otherwise, everything else was the same. I rinsed the cup in boiling water to warm up the glass before I poured the coffee. Float the whipped cream on top, and you have a delicious cold-night drink that’s got one hell of a kick. Like the Kentucky Cappuccino, this isn’t a drink for the faint of heart. It is, however, great for warming the heart.

The anticipation is almost as good as the actual drink…

Genieße das Leben ständig!
Du bist länger tot als lebendig!

— Mark