Irish Coffee

Invented in 1943 in the restaurant of the Foynes flying-boat terminal in Co. Limerick, then the last refuelling stop on the transatlantic route. A Pan-Am flight to New York was forced back by a storm. The chef on duty, a man called Joe Sheridan, was called in to feed the returning passengers. He added Powers Gold Label whiskey, demerara sugar, and whipped cream to their coffee. One of the Americans asked if it was Brazilian. Sheridan said no, it was Irish.

The Foynes terminal closed in October 1945. Eight years later, on the night of 10th November 1952, a San Francisco bar owner named Jack Koeppler and the travel writer Stan Delaplane recreated the drink behind the bar of the Buena Vista in San Francisco. Sheridan emigrated to San Francisco shortly after to help them perfect it. He died there in 1962 and is buried in Oakland.