Maggie's Farm

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Tuesday, September 29. 2020

Trivia du Jour: Who invented Irish Coffee?


It was invented at a Pan Am airbase in Limerick in the 1940s as a treat for American travelers. 


I don't think the Irish in Ireland drink it. I think of it as a rare dessert treat, but one time I had it for breakfast at a shooting meet and I have never scored as well since then. 

Posted by The Barrister in Food and Drink at 13:56 | Comments (21) | Trackbacks (0)

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My girlfriend's family is from Hawthorne and she grew up on the street that the Wilson brothers of Beach Boys fame grew up on. Her national heritage, however, could not be more different than mine. She owned an Italian restaurant years ago and we both share a passion for cooking. The first time I made her some Irish Coffee she was suitably impressed, and she looks forward to our next opportunity to enjoy a cup.
#1 Harmon Ward on 2020-09-29 15:07 (Reply)
Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller.

Did I win?
#2 Anon on 2020-09-29 15:08 (Reply)
Yep.
#2.1 Bird Dog on 2020-09-29 17:18 (Reply)
Skip the sugar and add a shot of Bailey's as replacement.
#3 Fred on 2020-09-29 15:23 (Reply)
Buffalo Trace bourbon cream is even better than Bailey's!
#3.1 JLP (Link) on 2020-09-29 18:01 (Reply)
Thank you. I love Buffalo Trace bourbon. Didn't know they had a cream...I'll go look for it.
#3.1.1 Bulldog on 2020-09-29 21:40 (Reply)
It's so hard to find here in western NC....or SC. Have had some luck in WV & OH. We keep looking.
#3.1.1.1 JLP on 2020-09-30 14:42 (Reply)
Have you seen the price of Bailey's these days? Gonna skip that.
#3.2 Stargazer on 2020-09-29 18:10 (Reply)
O'caroline's is somewhat cheaper and i cannot taste a difference. All in all, Irish coffee, sipped late in the day on a saturday in november after leaf raking and sitting before roaring fire, is a simple pleasure only topped by sharing good company.
#3.2.1 Jpac (Link) on 2020-09-30 12:14 (Reply)
"I have never scored as well since then."

Are talking about the shooting or something else?
#4 NJSoldier on 2020-09-29 16:12 (Reply)
I used to have an Irish colleague who used Jamesons whiskey in her Irish Coffee. She'd pour a couple of fingers in the glass, add a couple of sugar cubes, then pour over hot, strong coffee. Stir to dissolve the sugar and top with whipped cream.

I always thought it was invented at the Buena Vista Cafe here in SF.

http://thebuenavista.com/home/irishcoffee.html
#5 KellyM on 2020-09-29 19:06 (Reply)
Thank you for noting Jameson's whiskey. This is the ONLY whiskey to be used for Irish coffee. A detail the article somehow missed.

As for Buena Vista, no I don't think that they "invented" the brew, not that they'll deny it if asked. They do make an excellent Irish coffee, made all the better against a cold and foggy San Francisco morning. Fond memories there.
#5.1 Michael Scott on 2020-09-29 20:09 (Reply)
I, too, was taught it was the Buena Vista that 'invented' it. They merely introduced it, though.

I guess it's the Americanization of everything that leads people to shift "introduce" to "invent"...or just a misunderstanding.

After all, human flight was introduced by the Soviets...
#5.2 Bulldog on 2020-09-29 21:42 (Reply)
If you stop in at the pub at Shannon Airport, they'll tell you it was invented there as a gift to weary transAtlantic passengers. The Jameson distillery is not far from there. But Shannon Airport is on the north side of the estuary, while Foynes Port is on the south side, and was the base for seaplanes.
#5.3 Gordon Scott (Link) on 2020-09-30 10:58 (Reply)
One of the few times I ever agreed with my first wife's father was his view about Irish Whisky, he was an old Texas, alcoholic, oil man, total racist with Irish background and his take on Irish Coffee was that it was an excellent way to F-up two of his favorite things.
#6 OldTexan on 2020-09-29 21:17 (Reply)
Great line. I will use it as soon as possible.
#6.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2020-09-29 21:47 (Reply)
Enjoy your site but alcohol and firearms should never be mixed
#7 paul doroghazi (Link) on 2020-09-29 22:18 (Reply)
Ahhh, didn't take long for Karen to show up.
#7.1 CAPT CRAIG (Link) on 2020-09-30 10:50 (Reply)
The Irish coffee was popularized in the USA by the writer Stanton Delaplane after a stopover in the Shannon airport.

https://www.diffordsguide.com/people/64951/celebrity-drinker/stanton-delaplane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanton_Delaplane#Irish_coffee

The trick to getting the Irish coffee right is the cream. The cream needs to be unsweetened and whipped just enough to float on top of the coffee and whipped no more. Whipped cream from a can is an abomination in this drink.

Acceptable whiskeys are Jamesons, Tullamore D.E.W. or Bushmills.

Another requirement is the correct glassware. The Libbey Georgian Irish Coffee glass is the only thing that will do. Pre-heated with hot water before building the drink, please.

(By the way, the Libbey Georgian glass is the ONLY glass in which to make a Picon Punch but that is a post for another time.)

https://www.kegworks.com/libbey-georgian-irish-coffee-glass-6-oz/

The only other possible point of argumentation is simple syrup vs. sugar cube. Either is acceptable. It's a matter of consistent sweetness throughout the drink vs. increasing sweetness as you consume the drink.

Need the recipe? If there is a request or two I will post it here.

Where's Gwynnie?
#8 Darryl Licht on 2020-09-30 12:41 (Reply)
From Wikipedia: introduction of Irish coffee to the US 1952 at Buena Vista Cafe in SF. Note addition of floating cream atop.

Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe
The Buena Vista is a café in San Francisco, California, credited with introducing Irish coffee to the United States in 1952.[1] The Buena Vista Café originally opened in 1916 when the first floor of a boardinghouse was converted into a saloon. [2] The current owners also operate the Trident in Sausalito.[3]


Stanton Delaplane who was a travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle drank an Irish coffee at the Shannon Airport while on a trip to Ireland. Some time later, Stanton Delaplane along with owner Jack Koeppler of the Buena Vista Café in San Francisco, California, tried to recreate this drink. Delaplane and Koeppler worked for hours mixing and sampling different versions of the drink until they achieved the results that they were looking for and almost passed out in the process. [4] The two men solicited the advice of the mayor of San Francisco at that time since he was also a prominent dairy owner. The method for floating the cream on top of the coffee was suggested to them by Mayor,[5][6] George Christopher, who told them that the cream should be aged at least 48 hours in order that it would be more apt to float atop the coffee.[7] The Buena Vista Café began serving their Irish Coffee drink on November 10, 1952. Also, Stanton Delaplane helped to popularize the drink by mentioning it frequently in his travel column. The Buena Vista Café has served, by its count, more than 30 million drinks of their signature Irish Coffee
#9 ns on 2020-09-30 13:56 (Reply)
"I have never scored as well since then."

AKA group tightener.
#10 brad on 2020-09-30 15:49 (Reply)

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