Menu: Part two of the best Irish Christmas hampers for foodies
Irish crystal whiskey tumblers and decanter from the Cló range, based on ancient Irish ogham script, from Criostal na Roinne, in Co Waterford
Bean & Goose’s Christmas range of sustainable Irish chocolate includes individual bars, bar collections, and deliciously excessive sharing slabs plus new subscriptions and virtual gifts.
The Chocolate Shop hampers from Ireland’s finest chocolate shop feature the best Irish and imported chocolate available in the country, including premium single-origin chocolate from around the world, for the connoisseur.
Superb craftmanship, Erik Ven der Veken’s Christmas collection includes year-round subscription service. limited edition Christmas Jewel box features handmade, hand-painted chocolates with festive-flavoured centres.
Clonakilty-based micro-factory with commendable ethical integrity, producing bean-to-bar chocolates ideal for dietary restrictions, including vegan and dairy-free. Craft Chocolate Selection Box.
Monitor Stephen O’Connell and Alexis Bowman’s regular online sales to stand a chance of purchasing these utterly covetable and truly exquisite and elemental serving plates, bowls and dishes, handmade in their Ballinskelligs home studio.
The Menu’s top gift choice is an exquisite hand-cut whiskey decanter with matching tumblers from Criostal na Rinne’s Cló Irish Crystal range, produced by master craftsman Eamonn Terry in West Waterford — a gift to last a lifetime!
Adorn your wall with a Blasta Books calendar featuring artist Nicky Hooper’s wonderful illustrations, showcasing a seasonal Irish favourite each month.
We Make Good is a portal for great gifts with a social conscience, designed by emerging young designers and superbly crafted in various social enterprises. Top pick: copper water jug.
Superb range of quality outdoor cooking kit (cast iron cooking equipment, outdoor clothing and other accessories) and their own range of sauces, rubs and seasonings. Top pick: portable Petromax wood/charcoal camping stove.
Slated’s collection of handmade personalised slate boards and tableware can be engraved; including cheese or charcuterie boards with a personal touch.
Complete sourdough bread baking starter kit, including: starter, flour, dough scraper, probe thermometer, proving basket, baking dish, lame/scoring blade.
A true Menu favourite offers special limited edition Roaster’s Choice box (11 different single origin coffees in 100gm packets.
westcorkcoffee.ie/shop/roast-brew-limited-edition
Range of Christmas gift boxes and monthly blend and single-origin subscriptions. The Home Brew V60 Coffee Pack (V60 dripper, filter papers, scales, grinder, stirrer, organic cottton drawstring bag) for the serious brewhead.
Irish suppliers of premium loose leaf teas, from Irish breakfast to the very seasonal cinnamon spice and all points in between, and they also carry a range of stylish glass teapots.
Based in Belfast, Suki ethically sources and blends loose leaf teas, herbal infusions and fruit blends from all over the world. Customised gift sets and tea box subscriptions.
The Menu’s Food Emporium of the Year in 2020, one of the best ranges of craft beer in the country, along with premium spirits and wines. The Bradley’s Whiskey Refill Hip Flask is a hugely popular stocking filler.
Subscription delivery service to educate wine lovers, three different new bottles each month, with seasonal recipes, complementary quarterly online tastings, and discounts for ELY wine tastings.
A wonderful Irish take on gin’s bosom buddy, essential for gin cocktails and equally splendid on its own.
Killahora Orchards' double gift set of KO’s Rare Apple Ice Wine and Pom’O, in a custom-made wooden box — the crowning glory for all manner of Yuletide feasts.
Range of Christmas gifts, including award-winning merlot barrel-aged Wild Red Mead.
Aged in Irish whiskey barrels made from native oak, for traditional seasonal fireside supping. Excellent with spicy Christmas treats, sweet and savoury.
Ireland produces the best barley in the world and Waterford Whiskey has determined from the off to reveal that local terroir in the glass. Luna is their first biodynamic whiskey, local barley grown using ancient farming techniques, including burying manure-filled cow horns, ploughing with horses; seed sowing according to lunar cycles.
Scoffing will cease on first nosing Luna’s perfumed clarity, then savouring its wild panoply of astonishing flavours, including sweet fig, citric orange and malty chocolate and Demerara, and dry spicy finish that lingers for an age!
Dingle Single Malt Batch 6 is the final release of the series, matured in tawny port casks, The Menu relished its buttery warm fruit and spices.
The venerable Cork Hotel team’s up with West Waterford’s excellent Blackwater Distillery for a bespoke botanical gin, inspired by the hotel’s Victorian gardens, delightfully stylish bottle.
Along with Founders Wakame Cask Strength Single Malt Irish Whiskey ( currachwhiskey.comtarget="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">), The Menu loves Ornabrak ( ornabrakgin.comtarget="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">), and the ‘whiskey lover’s vodka', Kalak ( kalakvodka.com), all from Origin Spirits.
Superb party home packs of pre-mixed premium cocktails include three new limited-edition seasonal offerings: Yuletide Negroni, Gingerbread Punch, and Festive Old Fashioned.
Wide range of gifts for the whiskey lover, including The Teeling Hamper (Teeling Small Batch whiskey, a beer collaboration with DOT Brew, handmade chocolate, whiskey smoked sea salt, Teeling Flat Cap, other Teeling goodies). Distillery Exclusive, bottled at 46% ABV, comes with personalised label.
English Market Hampers include Tom Durcan Meats, K O’Connell Fish Merchants, On the Pig’s Back, The Roughty ‘Pure Cork Hamper’, Hederman Smoked Salmon, My Goodness Foods ‘Vegan Christmas Survival Kit’.
Full list: corkcity.ie/en/english-market/
Edible and other Christmas gifts and local flowers with an emphasis on sustainability and upcycling.
Local pottery artist, Charlie Mahon, showcases signature mackerel design on pretty ceramic pottery including mugs, platters and bowls.
Magnificent Market Mavens, Jenny Rose Clarke and Sheila Fitzpatrick ‘pop-up’ with an Aladdin’s cave of festive faves, including beautiful ceramics, soaps and woven baskets, and traditional panettone, Christmas cakes, mince pies, and gluten-free puddings.
Add extra colour and flavour to Christmas dinner with Maria and David Flynn’s superb specialty and heritage potatoes.
Skip the apple in the porker’s mouth and brush Christmas ham with Ballyhoura Apple Farm’s sweet, tart and spicy mulled apple syrup.
Carrot, parsnip and beetroot crisps with Achill Island Sea Salt — an alternative take on the crisp sandwich.
facebook.com/joesfarmcrispscork/
Premium tinned sardines as a gourmet treat. Shine’s purchases exclusively from Irish fishermen. Three-pack (olive oil, sunflower oil, tomato sauce).
