Pouring a special drop created in a place close to your heart sets you up for a mindful moment that is the opposite of this season’s sometimes mindless excesses. All the more so if that precious liquid is flavoured with the fruits or flowers of that locality, and can transport you to another time and place. Each of this week’s recommended bottles will do just that, taking you into the heart of Ireland’s orchards, hills and hedgerows with their evocative fragrance.
I’ve written before about other apple-based spirits, liqueurs and ice wines produced from the bounties of our Irish orchards. Killahora and Longueville House in Co Cork, Highbank in Co Kilkenny, Tipperary Boutique Distillery and Boann Distillery in the Boyne Valley all produce beauties worth seeking out.
I like to keep a close eye on the drinks producers who shine at the annual Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards that are announced every autumn in Dingle. Every year, they highlight something new to me alongside some old favourites.
“Irish fruit was a quiet hero of this year’s awards,” says Fallon Moore, who runs the awards together with Blas founder (and her father) Artie Clifford, “beautifully expressed in winners like Paula McIntyre’s Blackberry & Honey Rum, Stonewell’s Tawny Irish Apple Wine and The Apple Farm’s Ór Brandy and Richmount’s Elderflower Liqueur.”
I’ve previously highlighted Richmount Irish Elderflower Liqueur (€30, 50cl, 20pc, celticwhiskeyshop.com) but feature the other three today, plus a gin to conjure Kerry’s heathered hills, and another made with Armagh’s Bramley apples. Look out next year for Monaghan’s Foraged & Infused Rhubarb Gin in SuperValu’s Food Academy programme.
Drinks of the week
Paula McIntyre Rum (Infused with Blackberry & Honey)
Paula McIntyre Rum (Infused with Blackberry & Honey), Antrim, 40pc, €46.95
A collab between food writer Paula McIntyre and the excellent Basalt Distillery, featuring botanicals and flavourings from her beloved northern coast, this charms with rum and raisin character that quickly develop layers of hedgerow freshness, blackberry juiciness, subtle honey and creamy coconut-like notes from local gorse on the finish. Sip solo or over ice, maybe with a splash of soda. You can also build your own hamper, adding her Christmas puddings, liqueurs or rum and gin miniatures. basaltdistillery.com
The Ring of Kerry Small Batch Gin
The Ring of Kerry Small Batch Gin, Kerry, 42pc, €45-€50
A Blas na hÉireann 2025 Gold winner and small batch distilled in Killarney, this smells of heather hills meet hedgerow blossoms with a briny coastal tang, plus a nicely peppery kick. Enjoy with tonic, as a fragrant Martini or lime Gimlet. Carryout Killarney, nutsaboutwine.ie
Nohoval ‘Tawny’ Irish Apple Wine
Nohoval ‘Tawny’ Irish Apple Wine, Cork, 15pc, €19.95
From the Loire-born Stonewell co-founder, Géraldine Javoy, this amber-hued, dry-hopped apple wine is gorgeous chilled as an aperitif or dessert wine, with complex, bittersweet apple notes, tannic tension and bright acidity. Bradleys (Cork), nutsaboutwine.ie, cidercellar.ie
Symphonia Irish Apple Gin, Co Tyrone
Symphonia Irish Apple Gin, Co Tyrone, 40pc, £32.50 (70cl)
Cold distilled with Armagh’s Bramley apples by Woodlab Distilleries, this really grew on me with its curious balance of sweet-sour apple (think baked and honeyed), herbaceous juniper and botanicals. Refreshing with tonic. symphoniaspirits.com
Orr Irish Apple Brandy, Cork
Orr Irish Apple Brandy, Cork, 46.6pc, €112 (70cl)
Inspired by Calvados, made by the couple behind Stonewell Cider, aged in Limousin oak, Virgin French oak, Oloroso sherry and Burgundy red wine casks: rustic, rich and very complex. Bradleys (Cork), McCambridges (Galway), O’Briens, Blackrock Cellar, Martins, wineonline.ie, orrbrandy.ie