Sixty years of tradition in every glass: the secret history of Irish Coffee
The fascinating story of how a storm, a shared love for whiskey, and a transatlantic obsession brought Irish Coffee to the United States. There are moments in life when the right mix of flavors come together to create a moment so pleasing to the senses that it's all you can do to find your way back to it to repeat the experience over again. Recently, I found myself waiting in a restaurant for a post-meal Irish Coffee. The moment I'd ordered it, my teeth were set to experience that perfect combination of tangy and sweet – light on the whiskey, but heavy on the rich, delicate mixture coffee and Irish cream. But to my disappointment that image was shattered the moment the coffee arrived at my table. The waiter had mistakenly rimmed the glass in salt, instead of sugar. Instead of feeling transported to the green hills of the Celtic coastline, I felt more like I'd just been fed a mouthful of peat that clings to those hills. |  |
Even though I got over my poor Irish Coffee experience, it comes as no surprise to me that two gentlemen went on a much more involved quest to bring a combination of flavors that they loved – and became downright obsessed over – to bring Irish Coffee to the United States. They too had been taken captive by its sensuous and comforting allure and journeyed from San Francisco to Shannon just to learn the right way to make it. Their story, and the story of the man who created Irish coffee, would be forever linked to the beverage's history. The story begins like all great legends, on a dark and stormy night, this one in the winter of 1942. Joe Sheridan, a County Tyrone native, was working as a chef at Foynes Airbase in Limerick, Ireland, when a call came through that a plane traveling from Foynes to New York had hit bad weather and decided to turn back after struggling against the storm for five hours in the air. Sheridan and his staff were asked to prepare food and beverages to make the flight's passengers feel more comfortable when they arrived back at the airport. Sheridan got to work creating something special to help warm the passengers, a combination of strong, hot coffee and whiskey topped off with a dash of freshly whipped cream. One of the passengers asked Sheridan if they were drinking Brazilian coffee. "No," he replied. "That's Irish Coffee." From Erin's shores to the San Francisco Bay When Koeppler returned home, he was confident that he'd finally selected the best whiskey and found a way to make the cream float by choosing a specific type that had been aged for exactly 48 hours and frothed to a specific consistency. Though Sheridan had taken his famous drink with him when he'd left Foynes Airbase to work at the newly constructed Shannon International Airport, the Buena Vista Café quickly became the American home to Irish Coffee. In 1952, Sheridan left Ireland to come and serve his world-famous creation to the yanks, side by side with Koeppler at the Buena Vista Café. |
