I Invented Baileys (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#61

Post by s_dev » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 1:55 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #51

s_dev wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably some standard emulsifier is surely added. That for me would be the key bit: Wikipedia suggests "emulsifier containing refined vegetable oil".

Veg oil seems like a bad call for shelf-stability. Sure you can boil off any dissolved O2 and N2 sparge the bottle before sealing it, but that only helps you until you open the bottle.

It does but as pointed out above -- once above a certain % of alcohol as long as it's emulsified the alcohol will kill any bad bacteria.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#62

Post by phpnode » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 1:56 PM UTC

GlennS wrote: post #49

tromp wrote: post #3

Does anyone find the large price premium that Baileys commands over its many imitations worth it? In the U.S. I used to regularly buy one called Molly's and that name has stuck with me since. I still write Molly's on my shopping list here in Europe.

As a student I used to drink "Irish Nights" at about 1/5th of the price. Couldn't really tell the difference from real Baileys. My partner tells me she used to drink "Delayleys" (spelling lost to time), but would not buy it again today.

Maybe you mean Dooleys. It's toffee rather than coffee and is typically sold at extremely low end bars and nightclubs in the UK, or at least it was 15 years ago

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#63

Post by noelrock » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:05 PM UTC

This is wonderful how this has ended up on the front page of Hacker News. It's one of my favourite pieces I've read in the last few years - I bought the book arising from it - I don't even like Bailey's! It's just a very neat story of product development, branding, etc.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#64

Post by rsynnott » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:18 PM UTC

anonymousDan wrote: post #35

dredmorbius wrote: post #14

The mass-market alcohol industry is almost entirely based on branding and bulk ingredents. (A considerable fraction of the so-called top-shelf market is as well.) I'd had some exposure to that through a former life, though this classic comment of Animats drilled home just how sordid the whole thing is, through Frank-Lin distillers, who buy bulk grain alcohol by the tankerful, delivered to their own private railroad s…

Uhm, what about Guinness? The guinness brewery has been around a lot longer than 1950. Also, are you claiming there was no such thing as an Irish pub before 1980? Again, uhm, no.

I assume they're referring to the theme-park-ish "Irish pubs" in the US, rather than pubs in Ireland.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#65

Post by rsynnott » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:20 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #55

rattyc wrote: post #28

You've not lived until you've had a lager and gin & tonic and Baileys Irish cream chaser.

I’ve never really thought about it, but I guess an “Irish Car Bomb” doesn’t exist on the eastern side of the Atlantic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Car_Bomb

No; it'd be a bit like calling a cocktail "The 9/11", really.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#66

Post by Accacin » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:22 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #55

rattyc wrote: post #28

You've not lived until you've had a lager and gin & tonic and Baileys Irish cream chaser.

I’ve never really thought about it, but I guess an “Irish Car Bomb” doesn’t exist on the eastern side of the Atlantic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Car_Bomb

Yeah most people would find it in poor taste. No point in ruining a perfectly decent pint of Guinness. The comment you were replying to was referring to the "Lady Boy" drink from Alan Partridge.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#67

Post by nailer » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

> On December 3rd, 2007, Diageo announced the sale of the billionth bottle of Baileys since it was first introduced in 1973. That’s a thousand million bottles. And they will have sold at least a further 250 million bottles in the decade since then bringing the total up to something in the area of 1,250,000,000.

Slightly off topic but this writer seems to have a really low expectation of his readers.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#68

Post by gandalfian » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:31 PM UTC

tromp wrote: post #3

Does anyone find the large price premium that Baileys commands over its many imitations worth it? In the U.S. I used to regularly buy one called Molly's and that name has stuck with me since. I still write Molly's on my shopping list here in Europe.

I find nobody buys it at full price which makes it only slightly premium. It's designed to be discounted. Always on offer somewhere. Most people just buy a half price bottle at Christmas and that must be a sizable chunk of the market.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#69

Post by soylentcola » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:32 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #55

rattyc wrote: post #28

You've not lived until you've had a lager and gin & tonic and Baileys Irish cream chaser.

I’ve never really thought about it, but I guess an “Irish Car Bomb” doesn’t exist on the eastern side of the Atlantic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Car_Bomb

American here. I did a semester abroad in Ireland, and one particularly clueless fellow in our group of students made the mistake of ordering one of these in an (actual) Irish pub.

He was firmly asked to leave - and lucky that was all. I imagine he wasn't the first uninformed tourist to make this request. Years later, I likened it to ordering a "9/11" in Manhattan, although it's not a perfect analogy.

Re: I Invented Baileys (2017)

#70

Post by dash2 » Mon, Sep 27, 2021, 2:35 PM UTC

I think this was my favourite line, absolutely redolent of Britain in the 70s: “Two policemen came in this afternoon and demolished the whole bottle between them.” They were probably planning a frame-up.