This Saint Patrick's Day Stock Up on Some True Irish Cream Liqueur

If you want to toast to St Paddy's Day with a cocktail, but don't feel like breaking out your barware, consider opening up a bottle of Irish Cream.

Typically made with Irish Whiskey, fresh cream, and sugar—and often involving chocolate, coffee, or other flavors, it's perfect for those who want to celebrate with something stiffer than a green beer but sweeter than a glass of straight whiskey. But first, let's learn a little about this unique drink.

Where did Irish Cream come from?

While Irish whiskey has been made since at least the 1600s—and Irish cream has been around since, well, Irish cows—the idea of combining them into a drink—for sale at least—didn't arrive until 1973. That's when two businessmen, trying to come up with a sales idea, spent "about 45 minutes" with a blender, inventing what eventually became, the next year, Baileys. It was, as they say, a good idea: Baileys has sold well over a billion bottles since then.

How do you drink Irish Cream?

Contrary to popular belief, you don't put it in your Irish coffee — at least not traditionally. While it is very tasty in coffee, it's also great in a glass over ice, added to milkshakes, or made into the popular mudslide cocktail.

Do you need to refrigerate Irish Cream?

It's strange to think that a drink with dairy in it can be kept in the cupboard, but most Irish Cream Liqueur makers—including Baileys—say their product is shelf stable, opened or not, for up to two years, as long as it's kept out of the sunlight. This is because the alcohol acts as a preservative, keeping the cream from going bad! We've never been able to test this claim, however, as an opened bottle of Irish Cream has never lasted anywhere close to two years.