Cocktail & Other Recipes Cocktail Type Coffee & Dessert

Irish Coffee: 5 Delicious Ways to Reconsider the Famed Cocktail

By
Beth McKibben
Beth McKibben
Beth McKibben is an Atlanta-based writer and editor specializing in drinks, bars and spirits history.
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Published 02/28/18
Tim Nusog

The best classic cocktails always seem to come with a fuzzy backstory, part word-of-mouth, part myth-making. The Irish Coffee, however, is based more on truth than fiction, likely because there may still be people alive to tell its tale.

Back in the 1940s, before large airports existed around the world, Pan American flying boats—passenger planes that could perform water landings—were regularly making journeys across the Atlantic. One of the stops the airline made was at Foynes, in Ireland, on the banks of the Shannon Estuary. A local chef by the name of Joe Sheridan would greet passengers with a cup of hot coffee to which he added a little Irish whiskey. It’s said a passenger once asked Sheridan if the coffee they were drinking was Brazilian. Sheridan answered no. It was Irish.

By 1945, the Irish Coffee was being served at the much larger Shannon airport across the estuary in County Clare. A restaurant bearing Sheridan’s name is still in operation. But it wasn’t until 1952 when travel writer Stanton Delaplane was traveling through the airport that the Irish Coffee, now topped with a float of cream, would make its own journey across the pond.

Delaplane enjoyed the hot cocktail so much that he brought the recipe back home with him to San Francisco, where he introduced it to George Freeberg and Jack Koeppler, the owners of The Buena Vista Cafe. The café on Hyde Street is considered the birthplace of the Irish Coffee in America, where it’s still served today.

Over the years, Sheridan’s creation, like so many of the best classic cocktails, has welcomed countless interpretations, turning what was essentially an airport welcome tipple into something, well, just as elevated. These are five riffs on the Irish Coffee that are worth the caffeine buzz.

  • Fort Defiance Irish Coffee

    Fort Defiance has sold more than 15,000 Irish Coffees since 2002. Tim Nusog

    Listed under the “Hot Helpers” category on the drinks menu at Fort Defiance in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, this Irish Coffee was once dubbed "the best in the known world" by The New York Times. Owner St. John Frizell enjoys reworking old drinks to perfect the recipes. He found the Irish Coffee particularly challenging as it’s a drink most people know yet few have been served a well-made version of.

    He started with the most important component, the coffee. Fort Defiance uses a shot of Counter Culture espresso in its Irish Coffee and adds Powers Irish whiskey, simple syrup and a float of cream on top.

    “The key to a great Irish Coffee, besides quality ingredients, is keeping the hot part of the drink piping hot and the cold part very cold,” says Frizell. “The pleasure of the drink is that first sip, when you get a little hot and a little cold in your mouth at the same time. Without that experience, the drink is just a sweet coffee with booze in it.”

    Get the recipe.

  • Emerald Isle of the Caribbean

    Emerald Isle of the Caribbean

    Paul McGee

    The Irish coffee gets a Tiki twist in this drink from bartender Paul McGee. The drink is named for the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat, which gets its nickname from its location and its similarity to Ireland’s shape as well as many of its people’s Irish ancestry.

    McGee uses El Dorado Special Reserve 15-year-old-rum for it; despite its age, it’s on the affordable side, which makes it a nice rum for both including in cocktails and for enjoying over ice or neat. A house-made cinnamon syrup, velvet falernum, and Don’s Spices #2 give the drink its sweetness and herbal complexity. For the Don’s, McGee uses B.G. Reynolds, a popular brand of Tiki syrups from bartender Blair Reynolds of Portland, Oregon.

    It wouldn’t be a take on an Irish coffee without some fluffy whipped cream to finish it off. McGee makes a Tiki whipped cream with St. Elizabeth allspice dram, Angostura bitters and demerara sugar.

    Get the recipe.

  • The Dead Rabbit Irish Coffee

    Dead Rabbit Irish Coffee

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Jack McGarry, the co-owner of The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog in New York City, shares the bar's famed Irish Coffee recipe. Clontarf Irish whiskey is combined with freshly brewed coffee and demerara simple syrup, and topped with heavy cream and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg.

    Get the recipe.

  • Café Correcto con Coco

    Cafe Correcto con Coco
    Kailley Lindman

    The version served at Upstairs at The Gwen in Chicago uses a house-made coffee cordial and coconut water, but home bartenders can easily replicate the drink by substituting brewed coffee and a bit of almond milk. Either way, it’s a slightly sweet, rich coffee drink that’s great for any time of day.

    Get the recipe.

    Continue to 5 of 5 below.

  • Gran Rosta Coffee

    Tim Nusog

    Ray Burns, the owner of Prohibition in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., says there’s never a wrong time of year to drink an Irish Coffee, but it’s especially perfect for winter sipping.

    “As Irishmen, we take our Irish Coffee very seriously. The Gran Rosta Coffee has become one of our signature drinks at both Prohibition locations,” Burns says of the drink, which derives its name from the Gaelic words for “popcorn.” “The key to the drink is Teeling Irish whiskey, but the secret ingredient is a sprinkling of popcorn powder on top.”

    Get the recipe.