I’m sure I generally come off as being quite the lush. We homebrew beer & cider, we’ve been aging our own whiskey, we build a bar in our house, and, yes: I went to grad school in Scotland. I’ll let you do the math on that last one. But really, I think I just find alcohol more fascinating than anything else. The scientific process of creating alcohol, whether through distilling or fermenting, the aging process, the history of it, and of course just the social aspect (we won’t get into the psychological aspect of it).

But that social aspect is what makes it a great gift. Graduations, engagements, celebrations of all kinds. But Irish Cream in particular, I think makes a wonderful retirement present. Because for the rest of a retired person’s life (hopefully), they not only get to drink coffee for the enjoyment of it instead of to get them through the work day, it also doesn’t matter if they spike their morning coffee, because they’re retired.

Homemade Irish Cream

• 1c cream
• 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• 1⅔ c (375ml bottle) Irish whiskey (I used Jameson’s)
• 1 tsp. espresso powder or instant coffee
• 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder (sweetened or unsweetened) or chocolate syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. almond extract