The Port of Foyne was a busy air traffic point between Europe and United States in the 1930s and 1940s, carrying a diverse range of people from refugees and Royal members. It was the winter of 1934, the flight from Foyne left to New York in extremely bad weather that eventually caused the flight to return.
Chef Joe Sheridan working at the restaurant in the terminal building offered tired passengers the coffee drink mixed with a quality Irish whiskey. One American passenger asked if that's Brazilian coffee, and the chef answered, "that's Irish coffee."
In 1952 Jack Koeppler, owner of Buena Vista in San Fransisco brought the Irish Coffee recipe back to the United States and made it famous. Every year, the Foynes Flying Boat Museum holds an Irish Coffee Festival in August. The festival has the world's best Irish Coffee making competition.
