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Make the original Irish Coffee this St. Patrick’s Day

If you’re not into St. Patrick’s Day festivities that require guzzling green, cheap American beer, perhaps you’ll consider sipping a beverage that is actually Irish in origin. Irish coffee is a warm, creamy cocktail invented in Ireland in the 1940s. Unlike many drinks thrown together from excess ingredients, the Irish coffee was created with a purpose. Joe Sheridan was the head chef at the restaurant and coffee shop in the Foynes Airbase Flying boat terminal building in County Limerick, Ireland.  When a group of group of weary American passengers disembarked in Foynes after a long, failed flight, canceled mid-air due to poor weather conditions, Sheridan whipped up the drink and served it to them to keep them warm. Legend has it that after he was asked if it was Brazilian coffee, Sheridan replied that it was Irish coffee. The beverage caught on. In 1945 when transatlantic flights began to land at the nearby Shannon airport, Irish coffee…

Tips to help prevent that horrible champagne hangover

If you’ve ever thought that a glass of champagne hits you faster than, say, beer, you’re not imagining it. It turns out there’s a reason why a single toast at your friend’s wedding can leave your head spinning. Boris Tabakoff at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told NPR, “Some of the dizziness you can feel after champagne is due to both the brain getting [a little] less oxygen and also the [effects] of the alcohol at the same time.” Blame it on the bubbles. All of those bubbles in sparkling wine and champagne are nothing more than carbon dioxide. C02 competes with oxygen in our bloodstream, explains Tabakoff, a researcher on the effects alcohol has on the body. The science behind it is pretty simple. Carbon dioxide increases the pressure in your stomach, which in turn, forces the alcohol out through the lining of your stomach where it’s absorbed right into your bloodstream — faster…

The most-Googled drinks of 2017

Without professional bartending skills, most of us have to consult the all-knowing Google for cocktail-making tips. All those queries then get compiled and stored until the end of the year when the online behemoth bestows upon us its year end trends. After sifting through our trillions of search terms this year, Google has brought us the most popular alcohol related search terms in the Year in Search 2017. According to the data, cocktails tips reigned supreme with the Margarita and mojito topping the list. The cold weather classic, hot toddy, came in third. So, thinking back… how many of these have you searched for in the past 12 months? Here’s the full top 10 list: Margarita Mojito Hot Toddy Sangria Whiskey Sour Mai Tai Bloody Mary Cosmopolitan Old Fashioned Irish Car Bomb If you’re wondering how this list compares to the list from last year: Sangria was the most-Googled cocktail, with Strawberry Daiquiri,…

Why you shouldn’t drink champagne out of plastic cups

‘Tis the season for toasting with bubbly. Glasses of champagne get passed around this month so often that it can be tempting to use casual plastic cups when hosting less formal affairs. But in doing so you’re not only being less environmentally friendly, but you’re not getting the champagne’s full, glorious flavor. A new study on the popular holiday drink proves that its taste is, in fact, affected by the drinking vessel it’s served in. If you’re thinking that bottle of prosecco you cracked open before the office Christmas party didn’t taste as good out of the water cooler cup as it does at home out of your fancy champagne flutes, you would be correct. Plastic vessels such as Solo cups, water bottles, Tervis glasses, styrofoam or any other type of plasticware you may have on hand, will make the bubbles behave differently. The reason is that the bubbles stick to…

Study finds a few alcoholic beverages could actually boost your memory

Social drinkers probably wouldn’t consider memory recall one of the benefits to their Friday night habit, but a new study shows that a few drinks may actually strengthen your ability to learn new information. Researchers at the University of Exeter conducted a study by giving 88 participants a word-learning task. Participants were then divided at random into two groups. One group was told to drink as much as they want, while the other was told not to drink at all. The next day, participants were asked to complete the same task. Surprisingly, those who had drank alcohol did better when remembering what they learned the previous day. “The theory is that the hippocampus – the brain area really important in memory – switches to ‘consolidating’ memories, transferring from short into longer-term memory,” said Professor Celia Morgan of Exeter. The researchers stressed that this limited positive effect should be taken in stride…

Fruit flavored beer on the rise in North America

If you’re a fan of hoppy, bitter beers, hold on to your IPAs — the next trend in beer is not for you. According to a report from Mintel, fruit-flavored beer launches have increased worldwide in response to people seeking more flavorful drink options. Since 2012, one in ten beer launches have contained either fruit juice concentrate, fruit extracts or fruit peels. The trend began to accelerate in Europe about five years ago with the growing popularity of radlers, or shandies — a half beer and half fruit juice or lemonade blend. Seeking to offset a decline in mainstream beer sales, global brewers like Heineken, Carlsberg and Anheuser-Busch InBev began brewing fruit beers as well. But for years it had been craft brewers who have been leading the market with releases of fruity styles such as sours, cherry beers and saisons. Now, we’re also seeing fruit juice being added to their pale ales and…