Best Irish Coffee Recipes That Reinvent the Classic

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, which calls for Irish coffee. Recipes can be as simple as putting a splash of Irish whiskey into a flask of hot coffee and calling it a day. Or, it can be a labor of love in which you craft your own spiced syrup or concoct a homemade whipped cream.

While it's got a lot of room for creativity, an Irish coffee is traditionally stirred with sugar, then gets a collar of cold whipped cream. The type of coffee you use, how you brew it, and the sweeteners you add can all lead to new spins on this classic coffee cocktail that’s believed to have been invented in the 1950s for tired passengers stuck at an Irish airport restaurant.

Buzzy and boozy, these Irish coffee recipes follow their own set of rules.

Related: The 23 Best Irish Whiskeys to Drink on St. Paddy's Day

Spiced Irish Coffee

Making your own simple syrup with winter spices is worth the extra step and brings out the complex flavors in the rum cask-finished Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey, says Rob Caldwell, global ambassador for Teeling Whiskey.

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Ingredients

• 2 parts Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey

• 4 parts black coffee

• 1/2 part spiced syrup (see directions below)

• double cream

• grated nutmeg or chocolate (optional)

Instructions

For Spiced Syrup

1. Mix two parts sugar with one part hot water and your favorite spices like cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and anise.

For Cocktail

1. Pre-heat glass with hot coffee, then add in whiskey and spiced syrup.

2. Layer fresh cream using the back of a bar spoon and garnish with grated nutmeg or chocolate (optional).

Belfast Coffee

"Earthy, luxurious and sweet, this is the perfect introduction to poitín, Ireland’s once-illicit native spirit,” says Dave Mulligan of Bar 1661 in Dublin, Ireland. Poitín was first distilled by monks, then banned by the Brits in 1661, but never really went away. Mad March Hare is made with malted barley that’s been distilled three times in copper pot stills, then cut with Irish spring water. This recipe uses cold brew and a demerara syrup, which is similar to regular ol’ simple syrup but uses demerara sugar, which is a less refined sugar that will lend your cocktail some caramel characteristics.

Ingredients

• 3 oz cold brew coffee

• 2 oz Mad March Hare Irish Poitín

• 1 oz demerara syrup

• Hand-whipped heavy cream

• Nutmeg

Instructions

1. To make simple syrup at home, bring demerara sugar and water to a boil at a ratio of 1:1.

2. Stir the ingredients in a mixing glass over ice.

3. Strain into a chilled footed glass.

4. Top with whipped cream and garnish with nutmeg.

Proper Frozen Banana Irish Coffee

The secret to a good Irish coffee is a ratio in which the whiskey shines, but doesn’t punch, says Jesse Peterson of Simple Serve in San Diego, California. This blended coffee drink is creamy, smooth, and full of flavor and gives Irish coffee staying power beyond St. Patrick's Day.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey

• 0.5 oz heavy cream

• 0.5 oz brown sugar syrup (1:1)

• 3 oz cold brew coffee

• 1/2 ripe banana

• 2 cups ice

Instructions

1. Combine ingredients in a blender. Add ice and blend until smooth.

2. Pour into glass and garnish with instant coffee granules (optional).

Related: The 7 Best Irish Whiskeys to Make a Perfect Irish Coffee Every Time

The Italian Coffee

A dessert cocktail best enjoyed beside a fire, this Italian spin on Irish coffee has a delicate and rich hazelnut flavor, says Dianne Lowry, beverage director at Macchina in Brooklyn, NY.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Puni Sole Italian Malt Whisky

• 6 oz Italian coffee

• 0.25 oz Frangelico

• whipped cream

• crushed hazelnut wafers

Instructions

1. Fill coffee glass or mug with hot water, let sit for 30 seconds to warm, then discard hot water.

2. Measure whisky and Frangelico into your heated glass, then fill with coffee.

3. Top with whipped cream and crushed wafers.

The Night Owl

Irish coffee meet tres leches. The star of this cocktail from Reyes Mezcaleria in Orlando, FL, is Illegal Mezcal Reposado, which brings notes of clove, butterscotch, and vanilla.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Illegal Mezcal Reposado

• 1 oz Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur

• 1 oz cold brew

• 1 oz of evaporated milk, condensed milk, or heavy cream—or a blend of all three. (The restaurant uses its housemade Tres Leches mix).

• Abuelita chocolate, for garnish

Instructions

1. Combine ingredients in a shaker glass with ice and shake.

2. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with Abuelita chocolate dust.

Espresso Irish Coffee

If you have the tools to make your own espresso, then the extra strong kick and full flavor might give the indulgent cocktail exactly what you’re looking for. Add in the vanilla hint to the demerara syrup, and you’ll know why the espresso Irish coffee is the go-to hot whiskey option on the grounds of Slane Castle in Ireland.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Slane Irish Whiskey

• 1 oz homemade demerara syrup infused with vanilla*

• 1 double espresso (slightly topped with boiling water)

• 1.5 oz heavy cream (lightly whipped)

• Orange dark chocolate bar

Instructions

For Syrup

1. Add desired amount of sugar to a heat resistant-dish and add an equal part of boiling water.

2. Stir until all sugar has fully dissolved.

3. Transfer the syrup to a glass bottle while liquid is still hot.

4. Add a whole Madagascan vanilla pod to the mix and leave to sit for 48 hours to infuse.

5. Strain and refrigerate.

For Cocktail

1. Heat a 6 oz Georgian glass with boiling water (for approximately 1 minute, then empty).

2. Add Slane Irish Whiskey and demerara vanilla syrup to the heated glass.

3. Add freshly made double espresso to the glass and top slightly with 1 oz boiling water and stir.

4. Float cream over the back of a bar spoon on the surface of the coffee.

5. Grate orange dark chocolate onto cream float.

Honey Irish Coffee

The honey Irish coffee allows drinkers to “introduce the sweet flavors of spring to a cocktail typically enjoyed in the winter while also staying true to its roots," says Tullamore D.E.W. U.S. ambassador Clodagh Mai O’Callaghan.

Ingredients

• 6 parts strong, rich coffee

• 2 parts Tullamore D.E.W. Honey

• 1 oz heavy cream (lightly whipped)

Instructions

1. Pour boiling water in an Irish coffee glass to warm while you prep your ingredients.

2. Dump water and add coffee.

3. Add Tullamore D.E.W Honey and stir, leaving room for cream.

4. Pour the cream over the back of a bar spoon.

Related: Best Bars for St. Patrick's Day Celebrations