By Mandy Huffacker, Sly's Bar Manager
When Chef asked me to write a blog entry on the Irish Coffee, I started to take an informal poll of my friends and coworkers. I began asking people one simple question: "If I say the words 'Irish Coffee' to you, what is the first thing you think of?" Sort of a free-association exercise, if you will. The most popular answer I got was, "The Buena Vista" (don't worry, we'll get there). The second most popular answer was, "Uh, whiskey?" What was and is interesting to me is that if you ask your friends or family the same question (don't worry; I'll wait), no one will say Ireland. Or Joe Sheridan. No, Virginia, it was not invented at the Buena Vista. Or Tom Bergin's Tavern in Los Angeles. Or any of the other pubs in the States that claims to have had a part in its creation.
Let's go back to a dark and stormy night in the winter of 1942, shall we? A plane bound for New York had left Foynes Airbase in Limerick, Ireland, hit bad weather and needed to turn around (common enough in those times). When the call about the turnaround came in, the chef at the airbase, a County Tyrone native by the name of Joe Sheridan, was asked to prepare some warm food and hot beverages to soothe the weary travelers. Joe sweetened some Irish Whiskey with a little demerara sugar, added a cup of hot, strong coffee, and topped the whole concoction with lightly whipped heavy Irish cream (the real deal, not Bailey's). It certainly did the trick. One of the customers was so warmed and pleased by the drink that he asked Sheridan if he was drinking Brazilian coffee (highly prized at the time). Joe shrugged and replied, "No, that's Irish Coffee."
One of the passengers on this seminal voyage was a travel writer by the name of Stanton Delaplane (which, if you ask me, is a fantastic name for a travel writer). Delaplane was from San Francisco. When he arrived home, he went to the Buena Vista Cafe and spoke with then-owner Jack Koeppler about the warming libation he was served in Limerick. He was so enthusiastic about the drink and its warming properties for the damp and foggy San Francisco winter that the two of them stayed up all night trying to recreate the drink. But the whiskey didn't taste the same. Accounts vary as to which whiskey they were using, but the accepted ones are Jamesons, Bushmills, or Paddy. Paddy, from County Cork distillery, is believed to have been the original used, but widely accepted and most-frequently used is Jamesons, which is what we use at Sly's.
Legend has it that Koeppler booked a flight to Ireland to meet with Joe Sheridan and find out his secret whiskey and why, when Sheridan made the drink, the cream didn't sink to the bottom of the glass. Sheridan had left Foynes Airbase by this time and was installed in the bar at the Shannon International Airport. The answer to the whiskey question was simple: Use a good Irish Whiskey and only that. NO SUBSTITUTIONS. The answer to the cream riddle was also quite simple: Use a good quality heavy cream, sweeten it only slightly, and whip it a bit, enough so that it has some body in a spoon, but it still needs to "slump"...no stiff Reddi-Whip here. Only real cream, lightly whipped, will suspend itself in that manner over the black coffee, looking not unlike a Guinness when done correctly. Koeppler then took the secret back to the Buena Vista with him and made the Buena Vista the "home" of the Irish Coffee (with very little-if any-actual credit being given to Sheridan).
An interesting coda to this story: Ten years later, in 1952, Sheridan left Ireland to come tend bar at the Buena Vista. I'm hoping that he was given the credit that was his due.
Recipes disagree on primarily one thing: the sugar. Many of the recipes for Irish Cofee one will come across use sugar cubes. Others call for brown sugar, which is closer. Neither is really right...the white sugar isn't rich enough in flavor and the brown sugar is too caramel-like. The only sugar to use is the original demerara, which is more commonly known as turbinado, or raw, sugar. It is easily found and is what we use at Sly's in our Irish Coffees, as well as James' beautiful lightly whipped and lightly sweetened heavy cream. The resulting drink does look quite a lot like a Guinness served in a footed glass...black and nearly opaque in the glass with a half-inch floating "head" of whipped cream.
So come by and warm yourself up. There's really no better excuse than a foggy, chilly night, much like one would find in Limerick (or San Francisco, for that matter). And if you need an excuse other than fog to have an Irish, how about as dessert? It would be a delicious finish to a wonderful dinner at Sly's, and the coffee will help you stay awake for the eleven o'clock news when you get home. Oh, and I'm happy to make you a decaf...all of the indulgence and sweet dreams as well! Come try one today...drink a little bit of history.
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