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For United sommelier Doug Frost's column, click hereGood Spirits: Irish Revival—Any Day’s a Great Day for Irish
By Bill Marsano
With Irish available and delectable in three styles—as straight whiskey, in cream liqueurs, and in honey liqueurs—there’ll be recipes for each herein. I’ll set the record straight on Irish Coffee (there’ll be a recipe for that, too), mention some new wine gadgets, and close with the latest Poured With Pleasure.
First, let’s make an Irish Coffee according to the recipe of the drink’s only begetter, the fabled Joe Sheridan, of Foynes, County Limerick.
Joe Sheridan’s Original Irish Coffee (pictured above)
1 measure Irish whiskey
1 measure strong black coffee
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. fresh whipping cream
Heat the glass with boiling water and add the whiskey, sugar, and the hot coffee; stir. Float the cream on top, pouring it into a spoon just touching on the surface and raising it slightly the spoon as you go. Do not stir again: The drink is best when sipped through the cream.
Notes
How much whiskey and how much coffee? Joe calls for a stiff 1:1 ratio for (probably) a 6- or 8-ounce drink; almost all other recipes use much less whiskey, starting with a wimpy 1 tablespoon in 8 ounces of coffee. A reasonable starting point is 1.5 or 2 ounces Irish to 6 or 8 oz. coffee; thereafter adjust to your taste. Which whiskey? Joe preferred John Powers or John Jameson, but also approved of Tullamore Dew—and some people prefer Irish Mist or Celtic Crossing liqueur. Joe said sugar was a must—otherwise the cream won’t float. Some recipes use brown sugar and call for whipping the cream slightly to aerate it. The traditional Irish coffee glass is stemmed, with an egg-shaped bowl holding 8 ounces or so.
The Origins of Irish Coffee
Once, within living memory, all airplanes had propellers and some didn’t have landing gear. The latter were the mighty flying boats, such as the Martin 130 and—greatest of them all—the Boeing 314. Unlike a seaplane, which perches above the water on pontoons, a flying boat is actually a boat or ship in that it sits in the water: its fuselage is its hull.
Flying boats began scheduled transatlantic commercial passenger service in 1939. “Non-stop” was but wishful thinking then, and many flying boats refueled at Foynes in County Limerick, Ireland. Foynes lies on the Shannon Estuary, a sheltered body of water but a short hop (even at 188 mph) to England or Europe, then quaintly called “the Continent.” (In the event of weather or mechanical delays, which were frequent in those days, Foynes was handy to the diversions of Limerick and Newmarket-on-Fergus. Neither was it such a long way to Tipperary, although Ballybunnion was a stretch, and still is.)
It was at Foynes in the Flying Boat Age that one of the world’s most famous cocktails, Irish Coffee, was invented by Joe Sheridan, chef of the airport restaurant. Perhaps it was in 1938, maybe in 1942—possibly for some sort of airport celebration, conceivably as a cheering warmer for stranded (and freezing) passengers. Those details are unclear (Joe gave conflicting interviews), but that’s where unclarity ends: His claim to creating the drink is undoubted and uncontested.
Now there are those who say the manger of the drink is Shannon International Airport; all you can do, Thirsty Reader, is hear them out politely, thank them profusely and pay them no mind. Confusion has arisen because after World War II land planes took over the transatlantic routes and the flying boats “faded to Bolivian.” Traffic (and Sheridan) shifted to Rineanna—now Shannon International; IATA code SNN—and that’s where a commemorative Irish Coffee plaque was placed. That’s your first Bar Bet Winner. The second is this: Shannon’s place in aviation history is secure as the site of the world’s first duty-free shop, established in 1946.
Foynes is not utterly forgotten, however. It is the site of an Irish Coffee Festival every summer and its Flying Boat Museum has a life-size mock-up of a Boeing 314. ‘Tis a pity but all the real ones are since long gone to the White Elephants’ Graveyard.
Now to more cocktails.
Irish Whiskey Cocktails
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Whiskey Carioca
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Tullamore Toddy
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Velvet Isle
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Irish Cream Cocktails
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Baileys Shakerino
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Bella Dooley’s
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Irish Trinity
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Irish Liqueur Cocktails
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Mist Opportunity
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Celtic Lemonade
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Poured With Pleasure
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day we’ll have not green beer but green wine—Portuguese vinho verde. Here the green means youth and freshness, not the color, which is in fact white (there is red VV but it’s seldom exported). These wines can be very good and inexpensive.
Green, 2005: Provam Portal do Fidalgo Alvarinho, Aveleda Grinalda, Quinta do Ameal Loureiro.
Whites: Chardonnay, 2006: Blackstone Monterey County, Cartlidge & Browne, Cleavage Creek Reserve, French Rabbit (1-liter Tetra Pak), Hayman Hill Russian River. Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris: 2006 Gabbiano Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, 2006 Feudo Arancio, Sicily, and 2007 Nobilo Regional Collection. Sauvignon Blanc: 2006 Phillips Night Harvest; 2007 Sebeka, South Africa and Nobilo Regional Collection.
Reds: Chianti/Sangiovese: 2004 Ruffino Riserva Ducale; 2005 Valley of the Moon California Sangiovese and Gabbiano Chianti Classico DOCG; 2006 Ecco Domani Chianti DOCG. Bordeaux: 2003 Chateau de Launay Bordeaux Superieur Rouge; 2005 Christian Moueix Médoc and MDNM 2005 Christian Moueix Saint-Emilion. Cabernet: 2000 Georgian Vineyard Chirsa Saperavi, Republic of Georgia, bottled in Italy; 2003 Kenwood Artist Series, Sonoma; 2004 Spottswoode Young Vines Lyndenhurst, Flora Springs Napa Valley and Rubicon Estate Cask; 2005 Summers Adrianna’s Cuvée Napa Cabernet and Cartlidge & Browne Snows Lake single-vineyard. Zinfandel: 2004 Hayman Hill Dry Creek Valley; 2005 Lake Sonoma, Rodney Strong Knotty Vines Estate, Kenwood Sonoma Reserve. Rosé (still): 2006 Fra Guerau Rosé, NV René Barbier; (sparkling): NV Freixenet Brut de Noirs, NV Segura Viudas Brut.
The Last Word: Gadgetry
Never mind the odd name: Fusebox is aimed not at future Edisons but would-be winemakers. This kit ($120; fuseboxwine.com), created by Crushpad, a leading California custom-winemaker, contains what you and three friends need to explore the blender’s art: half bottles of red Bordeaux varietals (Merlot, Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec), blending tools, and place mats on which to record the various blends—and how you score them. Plunge right in or start slowly, using recipe cards giving the proportions used for 2000 Château Margaux, 2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia, 1997 Opus One, and 1994 Dominus. Or work backwards: One Mystery Wine is included—can you divine what it’s made of and in what proportions?
If you’re like the legendary dealer Hardy Rodenstock—and I know I am—wherever you travel you keep tripping over incredibly rare wines: ancient Lafites once owned by Thomas Jefferson (or at least “Th.J.”) and the last bottles from the last cellars of the last Czar. That sort of thing. Pity you can’t put them in your carry-on bag any more. Solution: the BottleWise carrier (about $50), which will protect and cosset two standard bottles (one Jeffersonian, one Czarish) in padded, ballistic-nylon comfort. Unconditionally guaranteed; available in black, red, and cork from bottlewise.com.
Cheers!
Bill Marsano is Hemispheres’ James Beard Award–winning contributing editor.
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