This wasn’t how it was supposed to go for Marcus Freeman. He was the common-sense choice to lead post-Brian Kelly Notre Dame; a successful coordinator and rising prospect whose players loved him. He was supposed to carry on the features of Kelly’s success without any of the bugs that came with Kelly’s interactions with other human beings.
Instead, a team that started the season ranked fifth in the nation is 5-3. Freeman has lost at home to both Marshall and Stanford, neither of whom currently has a winning record and each of whom were at least 16-point underdogs. While that ship has righted itself slightly thanks to a 41-24 win over a ranked Syracuse team, stormy waters remain with a looming home date against No. 4 Clemson.
And also that game will be broadcast head-to-head against Alabama-LSU, Texas-Kansas State and even a Wake Forest-NC State game that’s more compelling on paper. So let’s drink about it.
This week’s cocktail was originally penciled in as a Irish Trash Can — a greenish beverage with caffeine and something like three shots per 12 ounces and something potent and weird enough to get us through the inherent insufferability of a prime time Notre Dame broadcast. But then the Irish started losing and the prospect of them being shot into orbit by a good, not great Clemson team had to be factored into the equation.
In honor of that, I pivoted. With the help of Tyler Nettuno I identified Dippin’ Dots as the proper tribute to a possible space-racing, seeing as they are the ice cream of the future and all. And since Notre Dame meshes easily with Irish coffee — and because I have all those ingredients at hand compared to the blue curacao and Red Bull necessary for the Trash Can — we’re gonna make this thing an affogato.
The Fighting Irish Launchpad Affogato
- 6 oz. warm coffee
- 1 oz Keeper’s Heart Irish + American whiskey
- 1 oz. Irish cream
- one pack, Dippin’ Dots (dealer’s choice on the flavor, since finding these things isn’t exactly easy to begin with)
An affogato is generally a scoop of plain ice cream topped with a shot of espresso. That doesn’t necessarily make it a drink, but dousing it with a full Irish coffee? Yeah, that’s a better fit.
The Dippin’ Dots work better in that regard, turning this from a float to a boozy, cold boba tea, in a way. Only I wasn’t able to find Dippin’ Dots because I don’t live at a baseball stadium or amusement park. The closest I could find was “Ittibitz,” which exist in unexplainably large quantities at my local Woodman’s but only in a what’s clearly a leftover pallet of Fourth of July “Red, White & Pop!” flavor.
It’s currently November 3 as of writing, which does leave lingering concerns about their freshness. Then again, every single Dippin’ Dot was originally manufactured in 1976 and we’re still chugging through those, so it’s probably a moot point.
The drink itself looks like someone dumped a bunch of patriotic confetti into a puddle. Some of the bits float and some of them sink but they all retain their aquarium gravel artificial color so … that’s fun.
Fortunately the drink tastes pretty good — possibly because it’s cream liqueur and ice cream(-adjacent balls of dubious origin) and coffee and whiskey, four things that all work exceptionally well on their own. It’s sweet but not overpoweringly so and while I don’t think it stands up on its own it holds up as a dessert cocktail.
Dippin’ Dots and booze work pretty nicely together, adding a little unique texture to a creamy drink. All the not-Pop Rocks of the ice cream linger until the last sip, too — I assumed they would have been washed out in the coffee/booze — so you get a nice fizzy finish. All in all the stupidity-to-quality ratio of this drink makes it a net win.
Damn. Now I’ve gotta find real Dippin’ Dots for the next Notre Dame game.
