Irish Car Bomb – Original Recipe And History

Irish Car Bomb
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Irish Car Bomb

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

221

kcal
ABV

10%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the Irish Car Bomb.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Irish Cream

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Coffee Liqueur

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Irish Whiskey

  • 8 oz 8 Porter Beer (Guinness)

Directions

  • Technique: Pousse Café and Bomb Shot
  • In a shot glass, pour the kahlua, the Irish cream, and finally, the whiskey. Pour gently over the back of a spoon to make clear layers between the three ingredients.
  • Fill a pint glass halfway with Guinness.
  • Drop the shot in the Guinness and down the cocktail quickly since the Irish cream starts curling instantly.

Featured Video

History Of The Irish Car Bomb.

The Irish Car Bomb was invented in 1979 by Charles Burke Cronin Oat while he worked at Wilson’s Saloon in Connecticut. The Irish Car Bomb was a bomb shot cocktail using another drink he invented called the IRA Shot. The IRA Shot is a layered shot of coffee Liqueur, Irish Cream, and Irish Whiskey. Nowadays, the shot served with the Irish car bomb is usually just Irish cream and Irish whiskey, but initially, there was coffee liqueur too. This is a fantastic cocktail, and the mix of Irish cream, coffee, and Guinness is fantastic.

Since its invention, the Irish Car Bomb has been one of the most popular St. Parick Day cocktails in the United States. St. Patricks Day is a regular holiday in Ireland, but it’s an all-out party in the United States. People dress up in costumes, there are parades, entire rivers are dyed green, and people get hammered. A cocktail like the Irish car bomb fits the mood of the day. In the last ten years, there has been a push to rename the cocktail as the name is considered offensive by some. although after 40 years as a super popular St. Patrick’s day drink and being known as the Irish car bomb, that might be hard to do.

The Irish Car Bomb Name.

I see my role in this as simply being the conveyor of the history of this cocktail. Whose duty is to convey information free from judgment, both good and bad. Judgment and opinion are the personal responsibilities of every person for themselves.

That being said, the name Irish car bomb is considered offensive for its reference to bombings by the IRA in the early 1970s. I imagine living in fear of the IRA is pretty traumatic, not to mention the innocent people who died, so don’t ask for one of these in Ireland. I’ve never been to Ireland, but from what I have read, if you order one of these at a bar, someone may try to fight you. That may be an exaggeration, but I wouldn’t know.

In the United States (Where this drink is from), I don’t think most people care. I’ve never personally witnessed anyone get upset in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. An alternative name I’ve seen suggested is the Irish Slammer. Some get very offended by the name, and some get very offended at the idea of changing the name. You can’t make everyone happy. So if you want to roll the dice and order one, I say read the room and know your audience, and remember most people in the United States are not personally invested in the Irish Car Bombs name.

The Irish car bomb is not the only controversial drink name. Some find the Kamakaze upsetting because it’s named after the Japanese suicide attacks of WWII. Adios motherfucker is often called an AMF. All the sexual cocktail names. The Black and Tan came out of late 19th century San Francisco, but there was another Irish paramilitary group in the 1920s called the black and tans. Even though the drink predates the paramilitary group, I’ve read of some Irish pubs refusing to serve Black and Tans. I read a statistic once that over the last 5000 years, there have been around 11,000 wars, so something is going to bother somebody, be it a book, movie, opinion, simply existing, etc. So again, read the room, know your audience, be good, and try to make wise choices.

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Mr. Bali Hai | Classic Recipe & History

Mr Bali Hai
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Mr. Bali Hai

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

312

kcal
ABV

18%

Total time

3

minutes

Make The Classic Mr. Bali Hai

Ingredients

  • 1 oz 1 Lemon Juice

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Pineapple Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Coffee Liqueur

  • 1 oz 1 White Rum

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Black Rum

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.
  • Garnish:
  • Cherry, pineapple slice

Featured Video

The History Of The Mr. Bali Hai Cocktail.

If you go to the Bali Hai restaurant today and order a Mr. Bali Hai, you will not get this drink. The recipe has been changed over time, and this recipe is from the 2002 book “Intoxica” by Jeff Beachbum Berry. Tiki cocktails are not like old classic cocktails that every bar makes; many tiki recipes tend to be unique to each bar and get changed over time to adjust to the evolving trends and differentiate from competitors. The current Mr. Bali Hai is made with blackberry liqueur, whereas this one is made with coffee liqueur. Jeff Beachbum Berry cites this as the version he got during the 1980s when he first visited the restaurant, but he dates this recipe back to the 1970s. Mr. Bali Hai also comes with a super cool mug that can only be bought at that bar. The face looks like the giant wooden head hunter statue outside the entrance.

History Of The Bali Hai Restaurant.

The Bali Hai is a Tahitian-themed restaurant on Shelter Island in San Diego, CA. The Bali Hai on Shelter Island started as one of a tiki-themed bar chain locations called Christian’s Hut. Christian’s Hut opened in 1935 and was originally the makeshift bar under Clark Gable’s room. While filming the 1935 film “Mutiny on the Bounty,” Clark Gable played the character Fletcher Christian and the building (Bedroom above makeshift party bar below) became known as Christian’s Hut. After filming ended, the crew had the foresight to keep the building, move it to Newport Beach, and open a Tahitian-themed restaurant. I’m not sure how much of this was inspired by Don The Beachcomber, which opened in 1934 in Los Angeles, but part of the movie does take place in Tahiti, so that the Polynesian theme may have come from there. It could have been a bit of both. The restaurant and bar did well and eventually opened several other locations. One of those other locations was on Shelter Island in San Diego.

By the early 1950s, Christian Hut on Shelter Island started to fall on hard times. A new owner named Tom Ham stepped in, renamed the restaurant the Bali Hai, which in Indonesian means “Your own special island,” and was able to turn the restaurant around. The bar and restaurant are still open and worth visiting if you want to see one of the original and few surviving Polynesian-themed restaurants.

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Espresso Martini – Original Recipe & History

Espresso Martini
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Quick Step-By-Step Espresso Martini Recipe Video

Espresso Martini

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: British
Servings

1

servings
Calories

246

kcal
ABV

20%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make an Espresso Martini

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Espresso

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Coffee Liqueur

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Vodka

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.espresso martini
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.espresso martini
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.espresso martini
  • Garnish:
  • 3 espresso beansespresso martini

Recipe Video

Notes

The History Of The Espresso Martini.

Invented by Dick Bradsell at Fred’s Club in London during the late 1980s, the espresso martini was the request of one of the patrons. Dick Bradsell claims a famous supermodel walked into the bar and requested a cocktail that would “Wake me up, and fuck me up.” He liked to elude to who, but he never said precisely who requested the drink, but most think it was Kate Moss; the other guess is maybe Naomi Campbell. Interestingly Kate Moss was born in 1974, so for this version to be true, the oldest Kate Moss could have been was 16. She didn’t turn 18 till 1992. Maybe that’s why he never wanted to say who the model was, or the story is a bit exaggerated to make it sound cooler. Either way, who cares. It was over 30 years ago, and the espresso martini is excellent. The original name for the espresso martini was the vodka espresso, but somewhere along the line, they went with espresso martini because it sounded cooler. During this period, there was also Cold War resentment, and Dick Bradsell mentioned in interviews how he would try to avoid using Russian vodkas as it upset some in positions of power over him. Perhaps dropping the word vodka from its name was a strategic move to help avoid criticism.

Can You Use Normal Coffee To Make An Espresso Martini?

Of course, you can use regular coffee for an espresso martini; you can do whatever you damn well please, but it may not have the same flavor or foam on top. If you want to make an espresso martini, you need espresso. Drip coffee gets you 50% of the way there but not all the way. It will still be good but not the same. This matters, and why espresso is much better for this drink than regular drip coffee is the water to coffee ratio of espresso vs. drip coffee. Espresso is a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio of coffee to water, and traditional drip coffee is around 1:10 for a medium flavor cup of coffee. The drip coffee is fine, but since you are only using 1 oz of it, you want as much flavor and coffee bean oils as possible. The oil helps give it foam (read the section below on froth), and drip coffee will leave the drink underwhelming, but the Kahlua does help.

I won’t lie; I was gifted a big espresso maker that cost a ton when helping a friend move; I would never personally pay for a coffee maker that cost as much as this one cost, but it is super fast and easy to use and convenient for getting an espresso shot or two right away. Although, after all the years of drinking good and bad coffee and owning different makers, my favorite espresso maker is still my old little cheap Bialetti stovetop unit. It’s 30 bucks, has no moving parts, is easy to use, and makes hands down the best espresso. I would challenge my old dirty little Bialetti to the most expensive espresso machine any day. It’s one of those things invented 100+ years ago and has never changed because the first design was perfect. TLDR, if you are planning to make a ton of these, then get a machine to pull quick shots, but if you’re making a few for yourself and friends, save your money and use a cheap stovetop unit. Also, I find how tight the espresso is tamped down to be more meaningful. There are little torque tampers that click when the pressure is ideal, but you press until you can press anymore and feel the grains stop compressing. Don’t hulk it, but don’t be afraid to smash it down. This helps promote a more even and slower extraction. This was a bit of a coffee rant, but I hope it helps if you were wondering.

How To Make An Espresso Martini Frothy?

Foam is challenging to get right in cocktails. Everyone struggles with it at some point, and bartenders search for any way to make getting a good stable foam easier. Henry Ramos hired “shaker boys” to shake for him. Some use the dry shake or reverse dry shake, others swear by only using one large ice cube, and some say you have to shake till your arms fall off. The method I like is called the Saxe Soda Shake, invented De Forest Saxe in the 1880s.

The Saxe Shake is largely unknown in the cocktail world because De Forest Saxe was a soda fountain operator in Chicago, Illinois. His 1890 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers” details his shaking technique for egg drinks that produces the best foam and can be accomplished with minimal effort. Saxe states to shake drinks with eggs with only one chestnut-sized ice cube. An Ice cube from a standard ice tray is about chestnut-sized, so one or two small cubes will work. Then shake until the ice fully melts, and pour into the serving glass without straining. The small amount of ice is just enough to cool and dilute the drink, and since there are no remaining bits of ice left in the shaker, there is nothing to strain. Passing the mixture through a strainer destroys most of the bubbles you worked so hard to make. As you add soda water, the escaping carbon dioxide fills the tiny bubbles in the drink, forcing them to expand and form a large fluffy foam. Give it a try. Using the Saxe Shake, I have turned out Ramos Gin Fizzes as fast and efficiently as any other shaken cocktail with excellent results.

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Bahama Mama – Classic Recipe

Bahama Mama
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Bahama Mama

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: Caribbean
Servings

1

servings
Calories

278

kcal
ABV

12%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Bahama Mama.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz 1 Lemon Juice

  • 4 oz 4 Pineapple Juice

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Coffee Liqueur

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Coconut Liqueur

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 151

  • 1 oz 1 Black Rum

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.

Notes

Featured Video

The History Of The Bahama Mama.

The Bahama Mama is not just a cocktail that gets you thrown out of an Applebees for disorderly conduct. It’s a unique and tasty Caribbean cocktail. The only person who claims to have invented the Bahama Mama was Caribbean bartender Oswald Greenslade in his 2012 Cocktail book “One More Cocktail: A Guide to Making Bahamian Cocktails” Oswald Greenslade’s website says he didn’t start his bartending career until 1961. Still, the Bahama Mama was already a known drink by the 1950s. So chances are he didn’t invent it, but this may still be the closest we have to an early 1950s Caribbean recipe.

Bahama Mama Variations.

There are as many Bahama Mama variations as there are Bahama Mamas. Some look like tequila sunrises; some are grapefruit-based, orange-based, passion fruit, etc. They come in all colors. There is nothing to say this is the definitive recipe, but Oswald Greenslade is the only one I can find who claims to have the authentic recipe/ inventing it. There is probably no singular original recipe, and there may never have been.

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Brave Bull – Classic Recipe

Brave Bull
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Brave Bull

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

276

kcal
ABV

33%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a Brave Bull.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz 1 Coffee Liqueur

  • 2 oz 2 Silver Tequila

Directions

  • Technique: Build In Glass
  • Combine all ingredients in a glass.
  • Fill the glass with crushed ice.
  • Stir to combine and chill the drink.

Notes

Featured Video

What Does The Brave Bull Taste Like?

More than a tequila cocktail, I think of this as a Kahula cocktail, and this is a fantastic Kahlua cocktail. So if you’re not usually a coffee liqueur fan, this one is still worth a shot. If you already like Black or White Russians, this one may become your new favorite. This cocktail taste exactly as you would expect. It tastes like cold tequila and Kahlua. What makes the drink good are the proportions. Kahlua is intensely sweet but the tequila cuts it well. The tequila is strong but the ice dilutes it and chills it just enough. The trick to getting this cocktail right is to stir it for a little bit longer than you typically would stir a drink like this. It needs that extra chill and water to balance out, but if the balance is right it tastes great.

There was a 1950s movie called The Brave Bulls, and maybe it was named after that, but there is no evidence to suggest so. I have never seen the movie but maybe it is where Vic Bergeron got the name from.

Tequila Cocktails And Their History

You may be surprised to know that tequila is not a common spirit in cocktails. Most commonly known tequila cocktails come from only two sources. The 1937 “Cafe Royal Cocktail Book” and the 1972 “Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide.” While there are a few outliers like the Paloma or Tequila Sunrise, the fact of the matter is tequila has never been a popular spirit for mixing. This is unfortunate because it tastes great. Tequila is often had straight, but most tequila cocktails can be traced to one of those two sources. This recipe is no different and is from the 1972 Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide.

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Mexican Coffee – Classic Recipe & History

Mexican Coffee
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Quick Step-by-Step Mexican Coffee Recipe Video

Mexican Coffee

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

314

kcal
ABV

9%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Mexican Coffee.

Ingredients

  • 1/8 tsp 1/8 Ground Cloves

  • 1/8 tsp 1/8 Ground Cinnamon

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Tequila

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Coffee Liqueur

  • 5 oz 5 Coffee

  • 2 oz 2 Heavy Cream

Directions

  • Technique: Build In Glass
  • Add spices, Kailua, and spirit to a heat-proof grass. Stir to combine and then add coffee.Mexican Coffee
  • Add heavy cream to a shaker and shake for around 30 seconds to thicken into whipped cream.Irish Coffee
  • Float the cream on top.Mexican Coffee

Recipe Video

Notes

History Of The Mexican Coffee

The earliest reference to the Mexican Coffee That I can find is from a 1972 book titled “The Good Time Manual” by Russell Riera and Christopher Smith. The book was a collection of restaurants that the two liked in the Bay Area. One of the restaurants the authors write about is Señor Pico in Ghirardelli Square. Señor Pico was a mexican/Souther Californian concept restaurant by Victor Bergeron. Victor Bergeron was famous for his chain of Trader Vic’s Tiki restaurants and wanted to experiment with a Mexican-themed restaurant. Ghirardelli Square is right next to the Buena Vista Cafe. Riera and Smith state in their book that being so close to the Buena Vista Cafe, famous for its Irish Coffees, Bergeron invented a Mexican-flavored version of the drink.

Around the 1980s the, Mexican Coffee became common in many Mexican restaurants, and by the 1990s, it started appearing in some cocktail books. Not to say Victor Bergeron was the first to mix tequila with coffee. People have been mixing coffee and alcohol for a very long time. Still, his Mexican restaurant, Señor Pico, was the first to give it a name and the regular recipe we still use today.

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White Russian – Orginal Recipe & History

White Russian
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White Russian

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

398

kcal
ABV

22%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic White Russian.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Coffee Liqueur

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Vodka

  • 1 oz 1 Heavy Cream

Directions

  • Technique: Build In Glass
  • Add ice to the serving glass.
  • Combine vodka and coffee liqueur in the glass and give it a few turns to chill and mix.
  • Top the cocktail with heavy cream.

Notes

Featured Video

A Short History Of Vodka Cocktails In The 1940s

Vodka cocktails were almost nonexistent and not popular till the 1940s. Except for the Bloody Mary, I can’t think of a single cocktail that contained vodka before the 1940s. What happened in the 1940s to change that? The Moscow Mule was invented in 1941, and its overnight success suddenly made vodka a popular spirit. Most classic vodka cocktails can be traced back to this period. Since Vodka had no history of being used as an ingredient, bartenders found it easy to replace gin with vodka and give the drink a fun new name. The screwdriver was just an orange blossom with vodka, The vodka Martini was just a martini with vodka, and a drink called the Russian Bear was just an Alexander with vodka instead of gin.

I can’t find a direct link between the present-day white Russian and the Alexander cocktail, but I get the feeling looking at many of these 1940s vodka cocktails and believe that the white Russian is a variation of it. Lucius Beebe’s 1946 book, the “Stork Club Bar Book,” mentions a cocktail invented by actor Nelson Eddy called Alexander the Great. The cocktail contained creme de cacao, coffee liqueur, vodka, and heavy cream. In David Embury’s 1948 book “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks,” he has two drinks that resemble white and Black Russians. A drink called a Russian that was vodka and creme de cacao, and one was called a Russian bear which was a Russian with heavy cream floating on top. In his liqueurs and cordial descriptions section, David describes creme de cafe as almost interchangeable with creme de cacao and that they are very much the same. I don’t believe this is the first white Russian, but I feel its origins are here.

The Earliest Records Of The White and Black Russian

The first use of the White and Black Russian names I can find from the 1972 Trader Vic’s Bartenders guide. This is the first reference I can find of those drinks using the recipes we are familiar with today. Trader Vic’s original 1947 bartender’s guide mirrors the recipes in the Beebe and Embury books. I could also not locate the white or Black Russians in any other cocktail books from the 1950s or 60s. So sometime between the 1940s and 1972, the white and Black Russians we know today were invented. On the cocktails Trader Vic invented, he placed a large “TV” by the recipe, and neither the White or Black Russians have those, so Trader Vic must not have created them, but he was the first to record them.

Of course, what made the White Russian iconic was the 1998 Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski.” Hilariously thought throughout the movie, the dude, Jeff Lebowski, keeps drinking White Russians even in the face of danger and puts himself in harm’s way to protect his drink at one point. The dude’s love for this drink drove the White Russian to fame and turned it into a cocktail that was suddenly cool to order. Before the Big Lebowski, though, I don’t believe the White Russian was a cool drink. Everything about the dude is a mess. He doesn’t pay his bills; he smokes weed all day, his car is a clunker, and he has trouble forming complete sentences or relating to the people around him. The writers probably viewed the White Russian as a crummy weird cocktail made by a tiki chain during the 1970s. It’s not like he tries to make the drink well, either. In one scene, he uses powdered creamer and mixes it with his finger. Little did they know they would turn it into an icon.

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