Foynes Airbase, Ireland, 1943.
| 1½ oz · 45 ml | IRISH WHISKEY | 40 % |
| 1 cube | BROWN SUGAR | |
| 4 oz · 120 ml | ESPRESSO | |
| 1 oz · 30 ml | HEAVY CREAM |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 6.5 oz mixed with ice, 0.6 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.97 oz of water |
| Served | 6.5 + 0.97 = 7.47 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.6 ÷ 7.47 = 8.0 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.6 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 14 g · about 98 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM ESPRESSO · the alertness molecule
A purine alkaloid that blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, so the tiredness signal never lands. Coffee, tea, cocoa, mate, guarana, kola: all unrelated plants, all evolved caffeine independently as an insecticide. Humans inherited a tolerance for what bugs can't handle.
FROM IRISH WHISKEY · from oak barrel aging
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Manhattan · Whiskey Sour · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Espresso Martini · Mai Tai
Irish whiskey, coffee, brown sugar and cream. Caffeine adds bitterness, but the ethanol load is unchanged. Vanillin from the Irish whiskey's oak casks pairs with chlorogenic acid from the coffee. The cream float insulates, so the coffee beneath cools more slowly than black coffee.
Joe Sheridan invented the Irish Coffee for cold transatlantic flight passengers at Foynes, the seaplane terminal that preceded Shannon Airport. When asked whether the coffee was Brazilian, Sheridan reportedly answered: 'No, that's Irish coffee.' The recipe traveled to San Francisco's Buena Vista Cafe in 1952 via travel writer Stanton Delaplane, where the cafe still serves it under the original spec. The cream float requires lightly whipping: too thin and it sinks into the coffee, too stiff and it sits as a cap.
