¨No Fear¨ for the Winter

          Now that Winter has finally arrived, its time for some of us to catch the flu, a sore thoat, get a runny nose...

          This reminded me of a legendary cocktail that I learned to prepare during a Winter at the Irish Pub I worked for 2 years: The Hot Irish.

          This cocktail is one of the very few cocktails that are served hot and its healing capacities are incredible, similar to our traditional ¨carajillo¨. It consists of Jameson, cloves, hot water, lemon and brown sugar, all mixed up an served very hot.

          But the most interesting thing is the story behind it. This drink goes back to even before the 16th century, to later be rescued by John Jameson, the founder of Jameson Whiskey. Around the 1500´s, his ancestors dedicated their lives to fight piracy in the Irish coasts. In order to warm the spirit and handle the low temperatures of the open sea, they drank this beverage religiously. So you could say that this cocktail played an important role in the war against the pirates. After piracy was erradicated, the Queen awarded the Jameson´s family crest with the title ¨Sine Metu¨(no fear) for their heroic efforts to preserve the Irish shores. This motto is printed in the label of the Jameson Whiskey bottle.

          This cocktail has been passed on through generations and is practically the national cocktail- Its little by little becoming very popular worldwide nowadays.

           I would like to add a curious quote of John Jameson, who having already founded the company, wanted to join the Navy with no success:

          ¨I was turned down by the Navy. They said I could better serve Ireland if I kept making whiskey.¨

          Jameson sales about 30 million bottles a year, making it by far the best selling Irish whiskey.

          Writing this blog reminded me of working at the bar filled with cigarrete smoke while having a cold, sipping on my Hot Irish every time I could, to later go back in the bar, not to fight pirates, but to deal with drunk Irishmen, which is quite the adventure as well. The amount of interesting stuff you learn working the night...