It's been a while since I covered a booze, so I did some shopping recently. And I found a good candidate. As I've explained before, my ideal sample of an alcoholic beverage is a small, 1.7 ounce/50 mL bottle, so it's cheap (about $2 to $3 or so), and if I hate it, I'm not stuck with a large bottle. This wasn't the situation on this occasion, but it was a nice compromise. It was exotic (from Ireland), and a safe flavor (cookies and cream liqueur), and it was relatively inexpensive, being about $17 or $18 for the 700 mL/23,67 ounce bottle. More precisely, I got the cookies and cream flavor liqueur from the O'Daniell's brand.
O'Daniell's is a brand of the Robert A. Merry & Co., Ltd. company. Which has moderately old roots. Back in 1868 the Merrys Tavern opened, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland. At some unspecified time the family expanded into making wines and spirits, and not just serving them. Jumping ahead to 1994, the Robert A. Merry & Co., Ltd. business was formed, headquartered in Clonmel, County Tipperary. Further details are a bit lacking. Linkedin provided the information that the company employs 51-200 people. But I was unable to find out who the current owner(s) or CEO is, beyond, presumably, being a Merry descendant. Supposedly Merry makes gin and whiskey, but the official company website only mentions the Irish cream liqueurs. Of which there are several flavors--original, salted caramel, white chocolate, strawberry, toffee buttermint, and pumpkin spice. The current Master Blender is a guy named Don Crowley. Another business website listed the markets supplied as being (very generally) "Africa, Asia, Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, the Middle East, North America, Oceania, and South America." Oddly, the O'Daniell's kind I tried was not listed on the official Merry website, even though it's another cream liqueur. (Maybe it's new?)
O'Daniell's cookies and cream liqueur: This drink had a brownish-white color, and a creamy odor. I had this straight, after I chilled it. The taste was fairly similar to advocaat, which I discussed in my post on July 30th, 2022. Which is a compliment--it was creamy, with some chocolate overtones, and quite tasty.. The texture was also thicker than most alcohols. It's been a while since I had the most popular Irish cream-based drink, Bailey's, but this seemed better. So if you like Bailey's, or other cream liqueurs, or advocaat, I'd recommend this one, too.
I was a little curious about the history of the cookies and cream flavor in general, and was gratified to see that it's contentious. At least four people/organizations claim to have invented it. In order, Malcolm Stogo, an "ice cream consultant" (apparently that's a thing) says he came up with the flavor in 1976, or possibly 1977 or 1978. South Dakota State University lists their dairy plant as being the developers, in 1978. Specifically plant manager Shirley Seas, aided by students Joe Leedom and Joe Van Treeck. Then there's Blue Bell Creameries, out of Texas. Initially they didn't claim to have invented the flavor, but stated that they were the first to mass produce it, in 1980. Later though, they retconned this by saying that they were the inventors of it. They even registered the trademark for cookie 'n cream in 1981. Finally, John Harrison, the official taster for Dreyer's/Edy's Ice Cream, reported that he developed the flavor first, in 1982. Apparently none of these folks have substantial evidence, or else the question wouldn't be under debate. Whoever actually invented the flavor, it's clear that it was thought up in the late 1970's or early 1980's. Though there are variants, the classic cookies and cream flavor is made by crumbling up chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, into a vanilla ice cream. Furthermore, the flavor is rendered in many different ways--cookies and cream, cookies 'n cream, cookies & cream, and the same combinations with "cream" spelled as "creme."
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