Sláinte! Toast St. Patrick’s Day with an Irish Coffee
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 9:26PM 
FOYNES, Ireland - With Ireland braving its coldest winter in years, it's nice to know you can count on a hot Irish Coffee made just the way it was first poured in 1942. I enjoyed that experience on my recent visit to the Foynes Flying Boat Museum in Foynes, Ireland - once the hub of transatlantic air travel for Pan Am's "Yankee Clipper" luxury flying boat. It was on a cold night in 1942 that Chef Joe Sheridan whipped up Irish Coffees for crew and passengers aboard a Pan Am flying boat forced to turn back due to weather after 10 hours on a flight from Foynes to Botwood, Newfoundland. The owner of the airport restaurant challenged his chef to have something warm waiting for the passengers when they returned.
Want to make an authenthic Irish Coffee for St. Patrick's Day? Here's how -
1. In an Irish Coffee glass (a medium-size wine glass or brandy snifter will do), place a teaspoon and fill with with boiling water for five seconds (the spoon will keep the glass from breaking), then empty.
2. In this pre-warmed glass, put one teaspoon of brown sugar and a good measure (1-1/2 to 2 ounces)of Irish Whiskey (they use Powers Irish Whiskey at Foynes).
3. Fill the glass to within a half-inch of the brim with really hot, strong black coffee. Stir well to melt all the sugar.
4. Then carefully pour lightly whipped cream over the back of a spoon so that it floats on top of the coffee.
5. Do not stir after adding the cream, as the true flavour is obtained by drinking the hot coffee and Irish Whiskey through the cream.