This is a cocktail that I personally am not really fond of. Though for me, despite me not liking this particular cocktail, I must share it anyway. For many people there is few cocktails that is better for autumn and winter than the Irish Coffee. The combination of coffee, whiskey, sugar and cream should be tasty, though personally not for me, it has proved to be so for others. Apparently having been invented at a restaurant in, or in proximity to, Shannon airport in Ireland, it combines two Irish ingredients, whiskey and cream, with coffee and sugar. The cocktail proved to be a hit with Americans returning home from Europe and has since spread.

There are a few reasons why I don’t like the cocktail. Firstly, I have a hard time with warm or hot alcoholic beverages, for me the issue is the taste of alcohol comes through anything in an unpleasant way. There is one other aspect of this cocktail that should make me not liking it, that is the use of cream. Personally, I am not fond of alcohol combined with dairy, for the same reason that I don’t like warm cocktails, I just find the alcohol to overpower any other flavour in the cocktail. Though this cocktail uses the cream as a float on top of the cocktail, not mixing it in. By having the cream on top and not mixed with the alcohol makes the issue I have with alcohol and dairy disappear. Further, it also keeps the alcohol to evaporate that I find intensifies my issue with warm cocktails. That is though I do not like the cocktail I find it to be a lot better than other cocktails of this type. It helps when a coffee that I like is used and the cocktail balances the sweetness of the sugar and the alcohol of the coffee with the bitterness of the coffee.

My Recipe

• 1-2 oz (3-6 cl) Irish Whiskey
• 1-2 teaspoons Brown Sugar
• 4 oz (12 cl) Freshly Brewed Coffee
• Cream

Pour the Whiskey, Sugar and Coffee into a warm Irish Coffee glass. Stir to dissolve the sugar and top with some lightly whipped cream and serve.