BY GWEN KENNEALLY
This Sunday all eyes will be on San Francisco! It is expected to be cold, rainy and very muddy as the 49’s play the New York Giants in the hope of going to the Super Bowl! Since I won’t be in my beautiful city by the bay, I plan on watching the game sipping a traditional San Francisco cocktail—The Buena Vista Irish Coffee! The very best one I have ever had (and my very first, by the way) was at The Buena Vista on Hyde Street and Beach in Fisherman’s Wharf. This is what’s been said about how this masterpiece was created:
“The historic venture started on the night of November the 10th in 1952. Jack Koeppler, then-owner of the Buena Vista, challenged international travel writer Stanton Delaplane to help re-create a highly touted “Irish Coffee” served at Shannon Airport in Ireland. Intrigued, Stan Accepted Jack’s invitation, and the pair began to experiment immediately. Throughout the night the two of them stirred and sipped judiciously and eventually acknowledged two recurring problems. The taste was “not quite right,” and the cream would not float. Stan’s hopes sank like the cream, but Jack was undaunted. The restaurateur pursued the elusive elixir with religious fervor, even making a pilgrimage overseas to Shannon Airport. Upon Jack’s return, the experimentation continued. Finally, the perfect-tasting Irish whiskey was selected. Then the problem of the bottom-bent cream was taken to San Francisco’s mayor, a prominent dairy owner. It was discovered that when the cream was aged for 48 hours and frothed to a precise consistency, it would float as delicately as a swan on the surface of Jack and Stan’s special nectar.”
Success was theirs! With the recipe now mastered, a sparkling clear, six-ounce, heat-treated goblet was chosen as a suitable chalice. Soon the fame of the Buena Vista’s Irish Coffee spread throughout the land. Today, it’s still the same delicious mixture, and it’s still the same clamorous, cosmopolitan Buena Vista.
Whether or not you are into football, please enjoy this classic keep-warm cocktail! Oh yes—sorry New York fans—GO NINERS! Cheers!
- Irish Coffee
The Buena Vista Irish Coffee
12 ounces hot water
12 ounces of hot, fresh brewed coffee
Four cocktail sugar cubes
Two jiggers (or shot) of your favorite Irish whiskey
Fresh homemade whipped cream
2- 6 ounce Irish coffee Glass Mugs
To start off, you will need to fill your empty glasses with the hot water to preheat the glass. After you fill it, let it preheat the glass for a few seconds and then proceed to dump the water out. Follow by pouring the freshly brewed coffee into each glass until it is about three quarters of the way filled. Then, place the two cocktail sugar cubes into the mix of each glass. Stir the mixture until the sugar cubes have dissolved. You can then add the shot or jigger of your favorite Irish whiskey into the coffee and sugar mix. Stir again. Then using a warm spoon, flip it over each glass, and let the homemade whipped cream carefully slide over the spoon’s back and onto your Irish coffee mixture. You want to make sure that the whipped cream does not break into the Irish coffee’s surface.
About Karen Young
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