This take on Tinto de Verano celebrates Irish craft drinks produced by three makers from Cork, Kerry and Wicklow. It featured in the Blas na hEireann 2023 Finalists Launch and Producers Showcase at the 2023 Awards.
Continue reading “Irish Wine Punch (aka Irish Tinto)”Cherry Amour
Part of a collection of recipes I’m calling My Purple Passion
I had been knocking around in my head the idea for this cocktail ever since I made the Cherry Brandy Brownie. There was something so heady about the combination of cherry and chocolate that sent me off in search of a cocktail that would make the most of those flavours in a truly adult way.
If you’ve ever read my Tea with Granny series of blog posts, you’ll know that Black Forest Gateaux holds a very dear and special place in my heart. I also created for you one of the best cake recipes I’ve ever concocted as a ridiculously sumptuous version of an old classic. Check out those posts HERE and HERE. So, in a way, this cocktail is like a Black Forest Gateaux but in a drinkable form and oh so adulty!
What took me so long in getting round to making it was trying to figure out how, in the middle of a pandemic, could I get my hands on a Chocolate Bitter. In the end I decided to make my own using just three ingredients and one patient week of waiting. The good news though is that, like with all bitters, you only need a little to go a long way, so you’ll have enough for 6 cocktails with what you make here.
Equipment wise, you’ll need a cocktail shaker – my current one is plastic and broken so you know, whatever works…even a clean jam jar with a tight fitting lid would work. Something to accurately measure your measures with, lots and lot of ice and a fancy pants glass to drink from. Simples.
Ingredients: Makes 1 Cocktail
For the Homemade Chocolate Bitters
- 1 tbsp of roasted cocoa nibs
- 1 tbsp of cocoa husks (also known as Cocoa Husk Tea)
- Enough Irish whiskey to cover fully – about 150 ml
- Both the Nibs and Husks can be purchased from Exploding Tree
For the Cocktail
- 50 ml Irish Whiskey (I used West Cork Distillers 10 year old)
- 75 ml Kinsale Mead ‘Wild Red Mead’ (flavoured with cherries and blackcurrants)
- 125 ml tart organic cherry juice (e.g. Biona)
- 1 tsp of Homemade Chocolate Bitters
- 1 egg white
- Ice
Method:
For the Homemade Chocolate Bitters
- Place all into a sterilised glass jar with a tight fitting lid, shake and store in a cool, dark place for a week.
- Strain the liquid from the solids using a tea strainer or a piece of muslin cloth.
- Store in a sterilised jar or bottle.
For the Cocktail
- Add all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake vigorously for 30 seconds or until a thin sheen of ice appears on the outside of your cocktail shaker.
- Pour into a martini glass and garnish with some more roasted cocoa nibs.
Cheers!
Kinsale Food and Drink Guide
I moved to Ireland 13 years ago, and was visiting for many a year before that. Even in those heady days of my earliest culinary adventures I had heard, seen and tasted the proof of Kinsale’s reputation for being the “gourmet capital of Ireland.”
This article was first published on TheTaste.ie in July 2016. It has been updated in April 2018.
Kinsale Food & Drink Travel Guide
Over the years, it has fought hard to retain its crown as many other towns and cities across Ireland have asserted their right to be as equally acknowledged on the grand stage of culinary virtuosity as its founding father: Galway, Waterford, Dublin – naturally; as well as the sibling rivalry of the myriad other West Cork towns discreetly nudging up alongside Kinsale.
The challenge is this: when you have self-proclaimed yourself the Numero Uno in something as relentlessly creative and merciless as the food world, where do you go from there? And how do you do it to satisfy both locals and tourists alike to keep things growing apace? Continue reading “Kinsale Food and Drink Guide”