Last month was all about Champagne cocktails, as was befitting the New Year. But this month the cold of winter is here, for real, so we’re going to spend some time with hot drinks. Because we could all really use something to warm us up right now. Here’s our spin on Irish Coffee, using one of our favorite bourbons: Kentucky Coffee. – Andrew

Illustration by Shauna Lynn for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Kentucky Coffee

2 oz Kentucky Bourbon
1/2 oz Brown Sugar
6 oz Hot Mint Coffee
Cream

In a mug or heat-proof glass, combine the bourbon, sugar, and coffee. Top with cream, lightly whipped, and garnish with fresh mint leaves. Enjoy!

To make the mint coffee, brew a cup of strong black coffee as you normally would, but add a tablespoon of dried mint leaves to the grounds first. The easiest way to do this is to pick up some mint tea bags, like Moroccan mint tea. (Look for bags of just mint, not mint mixed with green or black tea leaves.) This isn’t only for cocktails – this is one of my favorite ways to drink coffee in the morning, and mixing teas in with your coffee is an easy, natural way to add interesting flavors.

An Irish Coffee – Irish whiskey, hot coffee, sugar, and cream – is just fine for this weather too. We wanted to take the original and give it a playful American spin, so we replaced the Irish whiskey with Four Roses Small Batch bourbon. And what goes better with bourbon than mint? The result is richly minty, creamy, sweet, and dark. It’s hot and it has caffeine, which basically make it prescription medicine for February. It’s decadent and full of calories and who cares this time of year?

Whipping cream for drinks like this need to involve a lot of work: a cocktail shaker can do in a pinch. Add a few tablespoons of heavy cream to the shaker, shake vigorously, and pour. Pouring over the back of a spoon held just above the surface of the drink can also help the cream float instead of settling in the glass.

(Full disclosure: the folks at Four Roses sent us a bottle for review.)

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, where we’ve been posting lots of our experiments before they reach our Friday Happy Hour column!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper