A Traditional Road House, Famous for its Irish Coffee:
Irish Coffee at the Red Fox Inn
If you’re doing a coach tour of the Ring of Kerry, you will no doubt be making an early morning stop at the Red Fox Inn, midway between Killorglin and the scenic village of Glenbeigh.
Most visitors touring the Ring of Kerry usually start from Killarney and coaches travel the Ring of Kerry in an anti-clockwise direction. Depending on your time of departure from Killarney, you’ll probably arrive at the Fox Inn at about 10:00 a.m.
Not everyone has the constitution to absorb alcohol in the morning, but the Red Fox Inn has a reputation for its Irish coffee and that’s why we’ve stopped here.
The Red Fox Inn is an old traditional road house situated next to Kerry Bog Village Museum. Their website says that they cater for coach tours and when we entered the pub, rows of glasses were already filled with generous serves of whiskey, ready for the coffee and cream to be added.
The Red Fox Inn have their own method of making this delightful Irish drink and if you want to find out their method, you can buy tea towels and cards which lets you in on their Irish coffee recipe secret.
The Mulvihill family have been running the Red Fox Inn for over 17 years and it’s renowned for its good food as well. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to try the food or visit the Kerry Bog Village Museum on our whistle stop at Glenbeigh.
The creation story of Irish Coffee
Irish coffee, was reportedly invented in 1940 by Joe Sheridan, a chef at Shannon Airport. According to the Irish Post:
“Irish Coffee’s origins can be traced back to 1943 when Joe Sheridan, the head chef at a restaurant and coffee shop at flying-boat base in Foynes, County Limerick, came up with the recipe.
Late one night, the County Tyrone cook got word that a flight that had previously departed Foynes for Botwood in Newfoundland was returning after several hours flying in bad weather conditions.
Knowing the flight’s disgruntled passengers would be cold, tired and thoroughly fed up, Sheridan decided to serve them something that was warm, welcoming and capable of raising their spirits.
Thinking on his feet, he decided to combine Irish whiskey with coffee to create the ultimate cold weather comforter.
It proved a hit with the returning passengers too with one even approaching the chef to ask if they were being served Brazilian coffee.
Sheridan’s response was simple: no, it was Irish coffee.”
Here’s how to make Irish Coffee, although which whiskey to use is a matter of debate!
The classic Irish coffee involves just four ingredients: Irish whiskey, brown sugar, coffee, and fresh cream. Here is Sheridan’s recipe, reproduced by John and Olive Mulvihill of The Red Fox Inn in Glenbeigh along the Ring of Kerry.
- Take a steamed glass.
- Pour in 1/4 gill (four tablespoons) of Irish whiskey.
- Add 2 teaspoons brown sugar and boiling coffee to within 3/4 inch of the top of the glass.
- Stir briskly until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Add cream, lightly whipped, and pour into the glass over the back of a teaspoon so that the cream will not sink.
To enjoy the full flavour of the Irish coffee do not stir when cream is added.
Getting there:
On the Killorglin to Glenbeigh Road, 4.5km outside Killorglin on the main Ring of Kerry Route, the N70.
Red Fox Inn
Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry
Republic Of Ireland
Unnamed Road, Quaybaun, Co. Kerry, Ireland
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Lost my little card with the recipe for both kinds of Irish coffee. Would love another one.
Hi Sharon,
I did a bit of digging, and have amended the post to add the recipe and a bit more! Enjoy your coffee…
Tony
Visited the Red Fox Inn on July 4 and it was delightful. I also bought a ring that day in the gift shop – silver and gold and copper. Would love to know brand of that jewelry so I can get some more. Please send info to my email address – thanks!
Hi Karen, I’m glad that you enjoyed your visit to the Red Fox Inn. Unfortunately, we don’t have information on the brand of jewelry you bought. Suggest you contact the Red Fox Inn directly.
The phone number listed is +353 66 976 9184.
Kind regards,
Helen
I had been so looking forward to experiencing the Irish Coffes available here in The Red Fox, but I have never been so disappointed in something as I was in this…I have had Irish Coffees in many, many places in my lifetime, and I make a pretty good one myself…..but this was nothing short of a rip off!! served in a glass, the size of which would not even be used to serve water in…and a third of the glass was taken up with cream, which leaves me to believe that the amount of whiskey in the coffee was just a fraction of what it should be!!…The cost of the Irish Coffee was about €6 which quite honestly was what leads me to say it was a pure rip off!!…Looking at their photo’s saying that they have lines of glasses ready with whiskey, just waiting to be finished off with coffee and cream is just a joke…anyone who knows how to make a good Irish Coffee, would never put whiskey in the glass without first heating the glass….so you cannot have prepared glasses of whiskey, just waiting to be finished off with coffee and cream….sorry! but this is one person who will never again sample an Irish Coffee in The Red Fox….and won’t be slow in telling others about it…
Maybe the Irish Coffee wasn’t that good, but the place was very lovely. And we would like to thank this fam. who gave us a home, far away from home, when we had cartrouble during our holiday. We stayed almost a day, because the car couldn’t be fixed and we still were welcome in the pub! Thanks!
By the way, we come from the Netherlands, and have never seen so many friendly people as in Ireland!
Totally agree.
For a ten am Irish coffee, I thought it was great! We were so excited to be on the Ring of Kerry tour and the Itish coffee was a good kickstart to the day! I highly recommend it. The stop was only for twenty minutes and you can always buy a second cup.
Totally agree. I was there last Tuesday and as you say the glasses of whiskey were all lined up on a tray but when you ordered an Irish coffee one appeared already made from under the counter and the amount of whikey in it was minimal if any at all and at 7 Euros a complete rip of It’s people like these that give the Irish tourist industry a bad name