Irish cream liqueurs

While some of today’s liqueurs have their origins in past centuries, there are others that are uniquely 20th century creations. They are cream liqueurs. Irish cream liqueurs have a secret combination of two of Ireland’s national treasure: Irish whiskey and fresh dairy cream.

The first of these cream liqueurs was Baileys Original Irish Cream. Baileys Irish Cream originated in Ireland a blend of fresh cream and Irish whiskey and was stabilized so that it did not need refrigeration.

It took the makers of Baileys all of five years to develop a process that would keep the blend of fresh cream and Irish whiskey from separating in the bottle. It was the first liqueur to sue cream and alcohol together in manner sufficiently stable to allow commercial distribution. Launched in 1975, Bailey’s is now sold worldwide.

In 1979, the first cases were sent to the United States, Americans immediately took to its luscious creamy richness and soon sales of Baileys Original Irish Cream were leaving such traditional after-dinner favorites as Grand Marnier and Cointreau far behind.

Baileys Original Irish Cream ranks fifteenth in the world’s top 100 spirit brands and for 1992 it achieved profits of £102.6 million.
Irish cream liqueurs

History of Irish whiskey

Irish whiskey has it origin in the same monastic tradition as Scotch whisky.

Irish whiskey is said to be one of the earliest drinks distilled in Europe; twelfth-century Irish monks brought the technique of distilling perfume from the Middle East – later modified to produce the liberated spirit.

In Arabia, the technique had been used to distill perfume from flowers, but the monks evidently saw a very different use for it. As the legend maintains, they soon developed am method of distilling whiskey from barley.

The Old Bushmills Distillery claims to be the oldest surviving licensed distillery in the world and it was established in 1608. By the time of Bushmills’ official opening, whiskey was already exceedingly popular among the common people of Ireland.

Then, in 1661, the British sat up and took notice of all the buying and selling back and forth, forthwith imposing a tax on all whiskey.

The new whiskey tax dramatically slowed the legal whiskey trade. Still, Irish whiskey sailed off to Europe, carried by bootleggers and smugglers sailing under the British tax radar.
History of Irish whiskey

History of buttermilk

Throughout history, buttermilk has been held to be a sovereign cure for a wide range of maladies.

Some of the historical records depict the development of a dairy system in ancient India. It is well known in ancient Indian history that buttermilk and ghee were widely consumed milk products during Lord Krishna’s time, about 3000 BC.

The Irish drink large amounts of fresh milk, sour milk, clotted milk and buttermilk and they used milk to make cream, curds, cheese, butter and buttermilk.

In traditional Irish cooking, buttermilk was never far away. It leavened the daily soda bread and served as the ‘whet’ who a plate of plain potatoes and salt.

When Irish migrated to North America, the continued to keep cows and enjoy buttermilk.

With the advent of centrifugal cream separators in the 19th century, butter making produced ‘sweet’ unfermented buttermilk.

For more than 100 years, cooks of south United States have been using buttermilk to make custard-like or cheese-style pies.

In Southern Food, John Egerton notes that Farm and Home Magazine published a buttermilk pie recipe in 1882.

Today, buttermilk is a cultured milk product which means that it is made by combining bacteria and milk to grow a culture. It is made by adding a special bacterial culture to low-fat or non-fat milk so that it thickens and develops a tangy taste.

Buttermilk is still important ingredients in traditional cooking, a vital agent for flavoring, baking, and marinating.
History of buttermilk