Drinks of the Month
Redbreast Single Pot Still Irish 12 y.o. Whiskey
How many Irish whiskies can you name? Jameson, I’m betting - and maybe Bushmills although they’re north of the border. I always like the idea there's a whiskey called Paddy though to be honest it isn’t much cop.
But as I discovered last year when researching a feature for The Guardian, Ireland does have some great whiskies of which the Redbreast Single Pot Still 12 y.o. is one.
It’s a really rich, warming style - perfect for this weekend’s unseasonally cold weather - half way between a highland malt and a bourbon to my relatively untutored palate. (I don’t claim to be a whisky expert though I do enjoy an occasional dram).
It’s triple distilled in copper pot stills, which is characteristic of Irish whiskies then aged in sherry casks - hence the richness and fruitiness - at the Midleton distillery in Co. Cork.
I suspect it would go well, as a delicious Midleton very Rare did just after Christmas, with a slice of homemade dundee cake though at £38.95 from The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt instead of £100+ for the Midleton it’s happily less than half the price.
Whisky writer Jim Murray nominated it his Irish whiskey of the year in 2010 and the late great Michael Jackson (no, not that one) is quoted* as saying it “makes me want to get on a plane to Dublin immediately.”
If I hadn’t got a bottle in the house I’d feel the same.
*in Whisky Magazine
Fragola Spezieria Liquore alle Fragoline, Bepi Tosolini
Another good bottle for Valentine’s Day this week - this time an wild strawberry flavoured liqueur in an extraordinarily blingy bottle with wild strawberries floating on top. It’s part of Marks & Spencer’s new international spirits range which now runs to over 70 different spirits and liqueurs.
It’s intensely sweet so needs to be served well chilled - unfortunately the curvaceous bottle isn’t the easiest to fit in the fridge - but I think it would be lovely poured over strawberries as well as with any dish of which strawberries is a component - pannacotta and strawberries for example, a strawberry pavlova or Eton Mess. And I'm sure homemade strawberry ice cream would benefit from a dash.
It would also work well with lighter chocolate desserts than the Alcyone last week - milk chocolate desserts or a light cake like Dan Lepard’s delicious-sounding Chocolate Custard Mousse Cake.
And you could also use it to make a simple sparkling wine cocktail topped up with champagne or prosecco.
The Bepi Tosolini distillery is a family-run firm based in Udine in the Friuli region. They also make grappas and a Limoncello which is also stocked by M & S.
Fragola Spezieria Liquore alle Fragoline (24%) is available at £23.49 in larger branches of Marks & Spencer, £27.85 at Weavers, Nottingham, £28.49 at Alexander Hadleigh, Southampton and cheaper still at £22.75 Fareham Wine Cellar though they say they need 4-5 working days to order it.
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