Baileys Irish Cream is an

Irish cream Irish cream () is a cream liqueur based on Irish whiskey, cream and other flavourings. It typically has an alcohol by volume (ABV) level of 15 to 20% and is served on its own or in mixed drinks, most commonly mixed with coffee or in shots such ...

liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...

made of

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and

Irish Whiskey Irish whiskey ( or ''uisce beatha'') is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' (or whisky) comes from the Irish , meaning ''water of life''. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of ...

emulsified An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although ...

together with

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

. Baileys is made by

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

at Nangor Road, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and in

Mallusk Grange of Mallusk, or Mallusk, is a village and townland (of 933 acres) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Mallusk is within the urban area of Newtownabbey, and it is also within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is situated i ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It is the original Irish cream, invented by a team headed by

Tom Jago Thomas Edwin Jago (21 July 1925 – 12 October 2018) was a British liquor executive and marketeer known as the creator of Baileys Irish Cream and Malibu (flavoured rum). During his semi-retirement, he co-founded The Last Drop Distillers with ot ...

in 1971 for Gilbeys of Ireland; Diageo currently owns the trademark. It has a declared

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

content of 17% by volume.

History and origin

Baileys Irish Cream was created in London by advertising executive

, working from a marketing brief issued by Gilbeys of Ireland, a division of

International Distillers & Vintners International Distillers & Vintners was a brewing and wine and spirits distribution company, formed from the 1962 merger of W&A Gilbey and Justerini and Brooks. History W&A Gilbey was founded in 1857 as a gin distillery by Sir Walter Gilbey, but ...

. Gilbeys was searching for something to introduce to the international market. The process of finding a product began in 1971, and production research began in earnest after consultants David Gluckman, Hugh Seymour-Davies and Mac Macpherson came up with an alcoholic drink made of

Irish whiskey Irish whiskey ( or ''uisce beatha'') is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' (or whisky) comes from the Irish , meaning ''water of life''. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of ...

and

that, they remarked, "didn't taste punishing". David Gluckman also came up with the idea of naming it "Baileys". The formulation of Baileys was motivated partly by the availability of alcohol from a money-losing distillery (part of International Distillers & Vintners, and probably W&A Gilbey) and a desire to use surplus cream from another business,

Express Dairies Express Dairies is a former brand of Dairy Crest, that specialised almost entirely in home deliveries of milk, and other dairy products. History The company was founded by George Barham in 1864 as the 'Express County Milk Supply Company,' so na ...

, owned by

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...

, resulting from the increased popularity of semi-skimmed milk. It included alcohol, cream and the chocolate milk-based drink powder

Nesquik Nesquik is a brand of food products made by Swiss company Nestlé. In 1948, Nestlé launched a drink mix for chocolate-flavored milk called Nestlé Quik in the United States; this was released in Europe during the 1950s as ''Nesquik''. Since 1 ...

produced by Nestle; the initial formulation process took approximately 45 minutes. Baileys was introduced in 1974 as the first

on the market. The name is that of a restaurant owned by John Chesterman, who granted W&A Gilbey permission to use it. The fictional ''R.A. Bailey'' signature was inspired by

The Bailey's Hotel The Bailey's Hotel, is a historic hotel in the Kensington district of London. The postal address is 140 Gloucester Road, but the main entrance is on Courtfield Road, opposite Gloucester Road tube station. It was established in 1876 and named aft ...

in London, though the registered

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

omits the apostrophe.

Manufacture

Cream and

from various distilleries are homogenised to form an

emulsion An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally Miscibility, immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloi ...

with the aid of an emulsifier containing refined vegetable oil. The process prevents the separation of alcohol and cream during storage. Baileys contains a proprietary cocoa extract recipe giving Baileys its chocolate character and essence. The number of other ingredients is not known, but they include

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

and

caramel Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...

. According to the manufacturer, no preservatives are required as the alcohol content preserves the cream. The cream used in the drink comes from

Tirlán Tirlán (known as Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited from 1999 until 2022) is an Irish dairy Cooperative, co-operative based in Kilkenny, Ireland. Its catchment area mainly covers the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East and Midland Region, ...

, an Irish dairy company. Tirlán's Virginia facility in

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...

produces a range of fat-filled milk powders and fresh cream. It has been the principal cream supplier to Baileys Irish Cream Liqueurs for more than 30 years. At busier times of the year, Tirlán also supplies cream from its Ballyragget facility in Kilkenny. Baileys bottles are manufactured solely at Encirc Glass Plant in Derrylin, County Fermanagh.

Shelf life

The manufacturer claims Baileys Irish Cream has a shelf life of 24 months and guarantees its taste for two years from the day it was made—opened or unopened, refrigerated or not—when stored away from direct sunlight at temperatures between .

Nutritional values

Drinking

As with milk, cream will

curdle Curdling is the breaking of an emulsion or colloid into large parts of different composition through the physio-chemical processes of flocculation, creaming, and coalescence. Curdling is purposeful in the production of cheese curd and tofu; u ...

whenever it comes into contact with a weak acid. Milk and cream contain

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins (CSN1S1, αS1, aS2, CSN2, β, K-casein, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of ...

, which coagulates when mixed with weak acids such as lemon,

tonic water Tonic water is a carbonated soft drink in which quinine is dissolved. Originally used as a prophylactic against malaria, modern tonic water typically has a significantly lower quinine content and is often more sweetened than the original medic ...

, or traces of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

. While this outcome is undesirable in most situations, some cocktails (such as the

cement mixer A concrete mixer (also cement mixer) is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate (e.g. sand or gravel), and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For smaller volume works, ...

, which consists of a shot of Baileys mixed with the squeezed juice from a slice of lime) specifically encourage coagulation.

Variant flavours

In 2003, Bailey & Co. launched Baileys Glide, aimed at the

alcopop An alcopop (or cooler) is a category of mixed alcoholic beverages with relatively low alcohol content (e.g., 3–7% alcohol by volume), including: # Malt beverages to which various fruit juices or other flavorings have been added # Wine coolers: ...

market. It was discontinued in 2006. In 2005, Baileys launched mint chocolate and

crème caramel Crème caramel (), flan, caramel pudding, condensed milk pudding, or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of clear caramel sauce. History Custard has a long documented history, but crème caramel or flan in its modern form, with sof ...

variants at 17% ABV. They were originally released in UK airports and were subsequently released in the mass markets of the UK, US, Australia and Canada in 2006. In 2008, Baileys, after the success of previous flavour variants, released a coffee variant, followed by a hazelnut-flavoured variant in 2010. The company trialled a new premium variety, Baileys Gold, at several European airports in 2009. The Gold version also was marketed towards the Japanese consumer.Thomas N Garavan, Barra O' Cinneide, Mary Garavan, Anna Cunningham, Ambrose Downey, Trevor O'Regan and Briga Hynes 2011, Baileys launched a Biscotti flavour, and a sub-brand premium product Baileys Chocolat Luxe, which combined Belgian chocolate with Baileys, in 2013. The company released a Vanilla-Cinnamon variety in the US market in 2013, with further flavours, Pumpkin Spice, Espresso and Salted Caramel launching the following year. From 2016 to 2018, Baileys Coffee Mocha and Latte was available in cans across the UK and Europe. In 2017, Baileys launched their

Pumpkin Spice Pumpkin pie spice, also known as pumpkin spice, is an American spice mix, originally developed for flavoring the filling of a pumpkin pie. It does not include pumpkin as an ingredient. Pumpkin pie spice is similar to the British and Commonwealth ...

flavoured liqueur, as well as their vegan-friendly Baileys Almande, described as a blend of "sweet almond oil, cane sugar and a touch of real vanilla". Baileys have continued to release new varieties, including Strawberries & Cream (2018), Red Velvet Cupcake (2019), Apple Pie (2020), Pina Colada (2021 & 2023)

S'more A s'more (alternatively spelled smore, pronounced , or ) is a confectionary, confection consisting of toasted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker, graham crackers. S'mores are popular in the United States an ...

(2022) and Vanilla Mint Shake (2023).

References

External links

*
Account of the invention of Baileys
{{Diageo plc Diageo brands Cream liqueurs Irish liqueurs Irish brands Brands of Northern Ireland Irish alcoholic drinks Products introduced in 1974