Irish Coffee is one of the “newer” classic cocktails but we’ll start with its distant and obscure origins in the 19th century:

Some say that the concept of mixing coffee with a spirit first surfaced during the BOOM of coffee culture in Vienna in the 1850s—we imagine artists and writers mixing their two favorite beverages was probably an obvious and inevitable development. Maybe because it was so ubiquitous, no one felt the need to document it, so there isn’t much proof this is where Irish Coffee actually originated.

Why would it be called “Irish Coffee” if it originated in Austria? The case has been made that the “official” Irish Coffee originated in Joe Sheridan’s Airport Bar in Limerick, Ireland, a major travel hub in Europe in the 1950s. Its halls are now decorated with him serving Irish Coffee to celebrities, politicians, and need-to-be seens of the time! Here’s their original recipe for you to try, written by Joe Sheridan himself:

Ingredients:
-4 oz. strong and rich coffee
-1.5 oz. Irish whiskey (we carry Jameson in our shop!)
-2 teaspoons of brown sugar
-1 oz. light whipped double cream

Preparation:
Pour ingredients into serving glass, and add a healthy dollop of cream on top.