Toast St. Patrick’s Day with Shamrocked
 and Joe Sheridan’s Original Irish Coffee

Shamrocked

2 oz. Midori Melon Liqueur
0.5 oz of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey
0.5 oz of Carolans Irish cream liqueur

Shake incredibly well, serve in 3 oz. shot glass

Before there were double frappacinos and caramel macchiatos, there was Irish Coffee, perhaps the first popular flavored coffee drink. In fact the drink was invented in the 1930’s to welcome and to warm up the first transatlantic travelers. Then, a trip from the U.S. across the Atlantic was only possible on an 18-hour flight by “flying boat.” On landing, passengers were ferried from these early seaplanes, and they arrived chilled and damp at Foynes Airport in County Limerick, Ireland. One night in 1942, it is said, a plane bound for the U.S. was turned back to Foynes due to bad weather. According to historians at the Foynes Museum, this was not an unusual occurrence. But on this night, as Chef Joe Sheridan was serving coffee, he thought a little something extra was needed to warm the tired travelers. He sweetened the hot coffee with sugar, added a dram of Irish whiskey and floated a dollop of rich, lightly-whipped cream on top. Irish Coffee was born.

By 1945, a restaurant had been established at the airport to welcome the travelers, which by then included such VIP’s as Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Edward G. Robinson, Ernest Hemmingway and Douglas Fairbanks.

By the time Shannon Airport opened in 1945, Sheridan had perfected his recipe. He took it to the new restaurant there, where more and more travelers would sample its delights, among them, the owner of San Francisco’s Buena Vista Café. In 1952, Buena Vista began serving the first Irish Coffees in America.

Today’s visitors to the northern California city, caught on a cold day with the wind coming across the Bay, still appreciate an authentic Irish Coffee, made Joe Sheridan’s way. Experts maintain that it takes a deft hand to make a true Irish coffee.

According to Buena Vista manager Michael Carden, it’s vital to use the traditional method. “You have to use actual heavy cream that is whipped to the perfect consistency and poured in just the right way to get it to float on top. That way, you get the coolness of the cream and the hot of the coffee. That’s real Irish Coffee.”

Joe Sheridan’s Original Irish Coffee
from the Buena Vista Cafe

1. Fill an Irish coffee glass with very hot water to pre-heat, then empty.

2. Pour hot coffee into hot glass until it is about ¾ full.

3. Drop in two cocktail sugar cubes. Stir until sugar is thoroughly dissolved.

4. Add full jigger of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey.

5. Top with a collar of lightly whipped cream by pouring gently over a spoon.

6. Enjoy it while it’s hot.

Edited by Patricia D. Sherman

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