Bill Pergine, bartender at Screwball's, with his award and the not-so-secret ingredient for his winning Irish coffee recipe.
No hat trick for the ladies from the Bridgeport Rib House. The two-time winners of the AOH Notre Dame Division 1 in Swedesburg’s annual Irish Coffee Contest did not go home with the big prize this year.
Instead it went to relative newcomer, Screwball’s Sports Bar in King of Prussia, for its smooth-tasting recipe made with home made whipped cream and two secret ingredients that even experienced Irish coffee drinkers couldn’t guess—and Screwball’s isn’t sharing. “Ah,” said owner Tom McGrath, wincing. “I don’t think I want anyone to know because we want to win again next year.”
Bartender Bill Pergine said they came upon the winning recipe on Tuesday, after trying a few concoctions.
The Bridgeport Rib House did go home with the “crowd favorite” award, while Guppy’s, a Conshy post-parade hangout, came in second, and the Swedesburg Fire Company came in third at the event that happened Thursday night, March 12.
The winner gets to ride on a float in Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Conshohocken. Clearly, Screwball’s didn’t expect to win: As we left, we heard Screwball’s Tom McGrath on his cellphone saying, “Wow, I’m going to have to cancel everything I was going to do on Saturday.”
