There has never been a better time to stock a full home bar using nothing but Irish ingredients.
What you need to stock a bar will vary by taste, but below you’ll find a guide to the essential liquors needed to bring maximum versatility to your home-curated, fully Irish drinks.
Whiskey
No Irish home bar begins anywhere else. The beauty of modern Irish whiskey is its range: single-malt, single-grain, single pot-still, blended, peated and even Irish rye all exist now. An Irish rye such as Powers Irish Rye can easily stand in for an American. A peated Irish malt such as the one from Hinch Whiskey Co can replace Scotch in a smoky old fashioned.
For cocktails, lean into the heavily sherried whiskies because they add a little bit of oomph, especially in a Manhattan or boulevardier. Opt for a Green Spot if you yearn for a pot still. Dingle Distillery produces excellently sherried single malts that stand up beautifully in stirred drinks. For lighter, brighter cocktails such as a whiskey sour, a dependable blend such as Jameson remains a workhorse.
Gin
From classic dry expressions to wildly botanical, tea-infused or coastal styles, the island is awash with juniper. My own favourites include Leitrim’s Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin for its distinctive citrus and oriental botanicals, and Boatyard Distillery’s Double Gin from Fermanagh for crisp Martini-making precision.
Vermouth
A core ingredient in many cocktails, the arrival of Irish vermouth changed the Irish home bar. Valentia Island Vermouth has shown that aromatised wine can thrive on Atlantic windswept botanicals. Founders Anna and Orla Snook O’Carroll have created a vermouth capable of taking on anything from abroad.
Vodka
Vodka earns its keep in espresso martinis, cosmopolitans, bloody marys and the like. It is a clear and capable spirit that gets forgotten until it’s needed. In cocktails, it is mostly used as a crisp base to carry other flavours.
Ireland produces several excellent versions including those from Kalak, Dingle Vodka, Boatyard, and Pippa O’Connor’s selection of Istil38 vodkas. Any one of these makes a perfect addition to a home bar. Belvedere lovers should opt for Kalak. But if you’re more of an espresso martini hun, Istil38 Vanilla is the perfect choice.
Rum
Rum might not be the first spirit you associate with Ireland, but we do now possess a great one. Paula McIntyre has created a rum infused with blackberries picked from hedgerows around Aghadowey in Co Derry and the north coast. Gorse flowers lend a subtle coconut note, while raw honey from Ballybannan in Co Down, in the Mourne Mountains, adds sweetness. In a daiquiri or rum sour, it brings fruity fun.
Poitín
You can’t have an Irish bar without poitín. Bán Poitín offers a modern, legal expression of Ireland’s once-illicit spirit. Sub poitín in for tequila in a margarita to give it an indigenous twist. Use it instead of vodka in a martini for a grassy, cereal-forward backbone. It works surprisingly well in citrus-driven cocktails and gives an Irish character to any white-spirit drink.
Orange liqueur
One of the most commonly used modifiers in classic cocktails is Triple-Sec or Cointreau. Both are orange liqueurs. Every bar needs one. For an Irish option look to Mourne Dew Distillery’s Orange Liqueur. Sweet orange with a mouth-watering tingle, slightly syrupy but balanced by fresh citrus acidity, it performs beautifully in margaritas, sidecars and cosmopolitans.
Amaro and Aperitivo
Amari are bitter herbal aperitifs that create balance and intrigue in cocktails or make spritzes. Stillgarden Distillery in Dublin produces O’Maro, an Irish amaro with macerated raspberries, garden botanicals and vacuum-distilled rhubarb essence. Slightly sweet, gently dry, with a bitter undertone that stands in with charm in Italian classics such as a boulevardier.
Stillgarden also makes Berrissimo, an Irish berry aperitif that can replace Campari or Aperol in a spritz-style drink, giving you an Irish negroni or spritz.
Bitters
Bitters are the seasoning of the bar. A dash or two can transform almost any drink from sweet and flat to layered and complex. Beara Bitters leans classical, with herbaceous and orange offerings that rival Angostura in their quality.
Off the Cuffe Bitters is more avant garde with offerings such as barmbrack and Irish coffee.
Tequila
Good tequila costs money. If you can afford it and want something with an Irish story, seek out Cinco Patricio’s, Ireland’s first Irish-owned tequila. Made in Jalisco from 100 per cent blue agave, it pays tribute to “the San Patricios”, the mostly Irish-immigrant battalion that fought for Mexico against the United States in the war of 1846-48. It’s not distilled here, but its producer is based in Galway and it’s infused with Galway Bay seaweed.
Brandy
Cognac has long held a place in Irish homes. Many a relative among us is devoted to their Hennessy and 7Up. And while it is still the domain of the French descendants of Irish immigrants, there are young Irish alternatives emerging. Sommelier Julie Dupouy’s Exsto Cognac offers a premium option, while Orr Irish Apple Brandy or the more affordable Longueville House Irish Apple Brandy will provide something same-same-but-different for brandy drinkers.
Fans of fortified wines might also add Irish meads such as Kinsale Mead or an apple ice wine from Killahora into their sippable rotations.
Irish cream and coffee liqueur
For creamy or dessert-leaning drinks, Irish producers excel. Five Farms and Coole Swan offer luxurious alternatives to multinational brands.
On the coffee end, seek out Killowen Distillery’s Gloria Cask Aged Coffee Liqueur. It’s brilliant in espresso martinis or baby Guinnesses and adds extra depth via a whiskey cask character.
If you’d normally reach for creme de cacao, Chocolate Baileys keeps the “fully Irish” theme intact.
Tools
You’ll need a jigger, shaker, mixing glass, strainers, coupes and sturdy rocks glasses to make cocktails. If you’re looking to keep things fully domestic, Irish producers even offer iterations of barware and cocktail salts such as Fat Tomato’s Bloody Mary Salt.
If all of this sounds like too much work, Boatyard has released bottled martinis and negronis that keep well in the fridge door.