Get your motors started early today folks, because January 25 is National Irish Coffee Day. No, that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to get lit while downing your morning coffee. Treat it more like National Donut Day, where eating one or two extra is fine, but polishing off a dozen is overkill and probably means you’re going to have a bad day.
That said, any “national day” that celebrates a drink as historic, loved, and outright delicious as the Irish Coffee deserves to be dutifully observed. Here are some reasons why, just in case you need any more encouragement.
A little morning whiskey goes a long way
Every octogenarian has a secret to long life hidden in their genes. But they also have a lifestyle that helps them capitalize on their genetic makeup. For Mariano Rotelli, that lifestyle included a morning whiskey.
“I’ve had a shot of whiskey in my coffee every morning for 100 years,” Mariano “Pops” Rotelli told Georgia’s Newnan Times-Herald on his 107th birthday party. “I went to the doctor three times in 100 years. He’s dead. I’m still living.”
The Irish Coffee has always been a warm spot on cold days
The now beloved drink was invented by a man named Joe Sheridan, who brought cold passengers coming off a flight some warm coffee with a shot in it. The coffee was for warming and the whiskey was for comfort. When someone asked Sheridan what it was called, he gave it a natural name: Irish Coffee. The drink has gotten slightly more complicated since then, and one offs proliferate, but the original purpose behind the Irish Coffee will always be there for you on a cold winter day.
Irish Coffee combines what wakes you up and what makes you creative
You need your morning coffee (and your mid morning coffee, and your lunch coffee) to get up and get to work. It can really kick you into gear. Studies show that moderate consumption of alcohol can make you more creative. So why not combine the two into one drink and have more time creatively kicked into gear?
