Our resident mixologist, Oisin Davis of Great Irish Beverages, says: "Next week, Ireland will see it's first Irish whiskey festival taking place, Dublin Whiskey Fest! There's going to be 25 of the venues serving one special Irish whiskey drink of their choice. There's gonna be hot toddies, beer pairings, cocktails, Irish coffees and neat serves. As I've always been such a big fan of drinks that feature Irish ingredients I was really intrigued by the cocktail that BarRustic put forward. Every bit of booze, sweetener and herb in it is 100% Irish. And the fact that it doesn't just contain Irish whiskey but poitín gives it the kind of potency that sits rather well for a seasoned boozehound such as myself. Using Irish products and produce in cocktails is an excellent natural progression for Dublin bars to be making, great to see it! Also, they named the drink after one of our legendary playwrights. Seriously, what's not to like?"

INGREDIENTS:

50 ml of your favorite Irish whiskey
20 ml of Wexford honey syrup
1/2 teaspoon of poitin
2 sprigs of fresh Irish thyme

METHOD:

Chill an old fashioned glass with some ice. Muddle the thyme and honey in a mixing glass. Throw in the whiskey and some ice. Stir for about twenty seconds. Remove the ice from the glass and drop the poitin into it and swirl it all round the glass to coat it. Strain the cocktail into the glass. Garnish with another sprig of thyme. Sláinte!