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An NA Irish Coffee cocktail to get you through Dry January (and beyond)

A warming drink from an award-winning bartender

By Mark Stock Jan 30, 2026 1:03 PM

NA Irish Coffee. — Christina Kirkman

Goodbye January, hello February. That does not have to mean giving up your favorite non-alcoholic cocktails, whether you participated in a dry month or not. Frankly, it’s just nice to have some good options at the ready.

We’ve been mining for some good options and, lately, have come up with quite a few. These days, we’re filling our cups with non-alcoholic spritzes and near beer lagers. And, when the mood strikes, we might go for a good old fashioned Margarita.

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Being the core of winter, we thought a hot cocktail recipe might be in order. Better still, we thought we’d do a thawing take on a classic. So, with spring in site and cold weather still here, we sought out a good Irish Coffee riff.

This drink comes to us from award-winning and sober bartender LP O’Brien. She’s shaking up the industry with amazing cocktails (non-alcoholic and traditional) and taking hospitality to new heights. Read on for the full recipe.

It’s Fun to Have Fun, But You Have to Know How

In other words, a non-alcoholic Irish Coffee from a top bartender. We love this one mid-winter, when the weather outside is frightful.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces Lyre’s Dark Cane
4 ounces hot coffee
1/2 ounce simple syrup
t.t. homemade whipped cream*
t.t. shaved dark chocolate

*Homemade whipped cream: Place whipping cream into a mason jar with a lid, then add a spring (you can use one from protein shaker bottles!) and shake until you have desired thickness. Add a little simple syrup if you’d like some additional sweetness.

Method:

Place hot water into a coffee cup to prime it.
Dump water and add all ingredients to glass.
Top with homemade whipped cream and shaved dark chocolate.

Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since… Read Full Bio

Four Roses’ 2026 Limited Edition Small Batch is its oldest blend yet

Bottle, Whiskey, Glass

Four Roses has announced the release of its 2026 Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon next month — and this year’s batch reaches back further than any prior release, blending bourbons aged 14 to 23 years.

The new blend from the Lawrenceburg-based distillery combines four hand-selected batches across three of the distillery’s ten recipes: 14-year-old OBSK, 14-year-old OESK, 15-year-old OESV, and a 23-year-old OESK. It’s non-chill filtered and bottled at barrel strength, 109.2 proof.

The Gold Room Is Peak Gilded Age New York Glamour

Altar, Architecture, Building

As a New England WASP, I probably have a hereditary fondness for grand old rooms. My Boston Brahmin forebears, after trading religious zeal for mercantile ambition, liked nothing better than sipping claret, playing whist, and smoking cigars in their clubhouses on Beacon Hill. In private quarters adorned with mahogany paneling, maritime paintings, and marble fireplaces, my flinty ancestors chortled deep into the night—safely removed from wives, papists, and, God forbid, Yale men.

Since moving to New York City, I’ve delighted in finding bars that feel like clubhouses frozen in the Gilded Age. The Campbell in Grand Central comes to mind. The Rose Club at the Plaza. Although much newer, the Polo Bar gussies up the blue-blood clubhouse aesthetic with fabulous fare, a trophy-laden wine cellar, and an ultra-exclusive mystique. But the apotheosis of robber-baron extravagance is The Gold Room at Lotte New York Palace.

Classic lagers to drink if you want your beer to “taste like beer”

Pilsner Urquell

When you think about the flavor of beer, what do you imagine? To me, it’s a crisp, refreshing, no-frills lager. The type of beer you’d just as likely crack open on an unseasonably warm spring day while grilling as you would after an afternoon of mowing the lawn on a hot, hazy, humid summer day. It’s light, refreshing, and tastes like beer.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for chocolate- and coffee-centric porters or boozy, barrel-aged stouts, or even tart, lip-smacking sour beers. There is a time and place for those and many other styles. It’s just that sometimes I want to crack open a beer and not taste an explosion of tropical fruit juices or get bashed in the head with malts or oaky wood. I want a beer that tastes the way I imagine it should. Specifically, I’m thinking about a balanced, thirst-quenching lager.