St. Patrick’s Day is one of the ultimate holidays for eating and drinking. Whether you’re making corned beef and cabbage, colcannon, or any green-tinted treats this year, you’ll want to wash it down with a festive beverage. A pint of Guinness, a shot of whiskey, or even a Baileys-spiked co*cktail are staples at any Irish pub—but no drink stirs up more controversy than the Irish slammer, commonly known as the Irish car bomb.
The History Of The Controversial Drink
The infamous beverage includes a shot glass with equal parts Jameson Irish Whiskey and Baileys Irish cream, which is then dropped into a half pint of Guinness. Despite the name, the drink didn’t originate in Ireland at all. It was first served in 1979 at Wilson’s Saloon in Norwich, CT. The "car bomb" reference alludes to the bubbling and splashing that happens when the shot glass is dropped into the pint—but its historical association is problematic, to say the least.
The co*cktail’s name refers to a decades-long period of violence in Northern Ireland. The tensions are deeply rooted in the history of Ireland and its colonization by Great Britain starting in the late 12th century. Centuries of conflict later, the island was divided into the independent Republic of Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland. Beyond the difference in governments, the two territories were largely divided over religious lines—Catholics in Ireland and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
However, Catholic communities still lived in Northern Irish cities like Belfast and Derry and raised issues of systemic discrimination by the Protestant-controlled government. These conflicts came to a head in 1968 and were followed by a period known by many as the Troubles. The next 30 years were filled with sectarian violence, with the paramilitary group IRA regularly using car bombs as weapons. One day in 1972, known as Bloody Friday, involved the detonation of over 20 car bombs in Belfast. The events of that day, which killed nine people and left 130 people injured, remain a dark and painful moment in the region’s history.
Navy personnel who frequented Wilson’s Saloon slowly introduced more Americans to the co*cktail, and it became a household name in the 1980s and '90s after Guinness launched a widespread advertising campaign. Now, you can find revelers from coast to coast ordering the drink every St. Patrick's Day.
Where you won’t find this drink, naturally, is Ireland and England. Many bartenders across the pond will refuse to make the drink, and will likely get upset with anybody who orders it.
Charles Burke Cronin Oat, the owner of Wilson's Saloon who invented the drink, has apologized and expressed regret for the name after public pushback from IRA victim-support groups.
“If you invent a drink such as the car bomb, as I did so long ago, beware!” Oat wrote in his essay The Car-Bomb: The Creation of An Historic co*cktail. “You never know if it might become famous, so pick the name carefully. IRA and car bomb are ‘cool’ in the bar scene, but in the reality of today NOT.”
Is It Okay To Order One?
So the question remains: is it okay to order an Irish slammer? “It depends on what Irish person you ask,” says Darby Reagan, an Irish American researcher and restaurant industry veteran. “If they weren't old enough to be alive during the Troubles, it's not unreasonable at all to assume they had family that were impacted by it."
With several years of bartending experience under her belt, Reagan is no stranger to people ordering the drink, but she would never drink controversial co*cktail herself.
"I like to steer clear of bringing up memories of national tragedies," she says. "I doubt many of the people ordering [the drink] on St. Paddy's are truly understanding of the gravitas of those times and the effect it had on the Irish people—it's named after a deeply horrifying event."
For those who enjoy the flavor and experience of the co*cktail, many bars and publications have renamed the drink to avoid offense. This drink may appear on menus as the “Dublin Drop,” “Irish Shot,” and as we call it, the “Irish Slammer.” But even the brands whose products are in the drink have distanced themselves from it.
“We are proud of the role our brands play in celebrating occasions such as St Patrick’s Day,” said a Diageo spokeswoman, according to The Guardian. The British parent company owns both Guinness and Baileys. “We have a stringent marketing code which ensures that we promote only the responsible consumption of our brands. As such we do not seek to support drinks such as the Irish Car Bomb.”
Without the support of the alcohol brands associated with the drink, many people of Irish and English descent, or even the founder of the co*cktail itself, it’s safe to say that you should avoid ordering it entirely.
"There are better drinks that won't offend the heritage you are celebrating," Reagan says. "If you want the Guinness, grab a pint. If you want the whiskey, grab a Jameson. If you want the sweetness and a shot that doesn't breathe fire down your neck, a baby Guinness shot is a sweet alternative that won't offend."
But if you really need to chug a glass of stout and curdled Baileys, you should probably just make the recipe at home.
