If you like Pina Coladas... The best cocktail kits to order for the bank holiday weekend
Cask cocktail bar in Cork just launched a range of ready to pour cocktails - and they're not the only ones. Picture: Miki Barlok
Lockdown has led to many new talents being honed. We’ve become at-home baristas, chefs, teachers, and once the sun sets - expert mixologists.
For those that don’t happen to have juniper berries, dried nettles, or hibiscus petals lying around, however, there’s no need to fret. There are plenty of at-home cocktail kits and bottled mixes being sold by Irish suppliers at the minute.
From French martinis and fizzy apple mojitos to grapefruit and rosemary sours, these cocktail delivery companies have got you covered for the bank holiday weekend ahead.
This award-winning Cork city cocktail bar has just launched a range of ready-to-pour cocktails in two different sizes.
All of the bottled drinks are made with seasonal and foraged ingredients, which are sourced locally from artisan producers such as Ballymaloe House, Cork Rooftop Farm, and Coolmore Bees Carrigaline.
Choose from a fizzy apple mojito, raspberry and nettle gimlet, a sorrel margarita, the Beamish boulevardier, a cherry blossom pornstar martini, and the Hennessy Woodland Alexander.
A rotational bartender's special also features on the menu and is created by guest bartenders from around the world. Currently on the menu is a woo woo with Connemara Peated Whiskey created by Homeboy bar in London.
Order 350ml (€22) and 750ml sizes (€44) for delivery or pick up on www.caskcork.comÂ
This Sligo cocktail bar got in on the home kit game early and has perfected its lockdown cocktail boxes, which are available to order online.
For €37.95, you get a kit featuring all of the ingredients and instructions you need to make four cocktails.
For the fan favourite espresso martini, for example, the kit comes with 200ml of Absolut Vanilla Vodka and Kahlua, as well as vanilla syrups, espresso, coffee beans, a small measuring jug and four biodegradable straws.
Other options include a champagne cosmo kit, pornstar martini, Long Island iced tea, whiskey sour, gin bramble, and more. A non-alcoholic mocktail kit is also available.
Find out more on www.bourbon.ieÂ
RHK’s bars have always been well known around Dublin, but over lockdown their cocktail delivery service brought the company far further afield.
Known for its adventurous flavours, such as Brunch and Twister daiquiris, Skittle bombs, and blue bon bon cocktails, the mixologists decided to bottle their creations for people to enjoy at home.
To recreate, you simply blend the bottled mix with ice or pour it straight into your favourite glass.
Prices start from €6 and an array of gift packs are also available, with some even featuring RHK's famous golden bathtub cups.
See more at www.rhkcocktails.comÂ
This West Cork based company doesn’t include alcohol in their cocktail mixes, but the products fly off the shelves at local farmers' markets.
Owners Tara and Rory started the company after the pandemic hit, realising by June 2020 just how many people were trying to make new drink creations at home. The siblings create their craft cocktail mixes in their Baltimore kitchen using natural and local ingredients.
The mixes include: blackberry and ginger, rose and elderflower, vanilla and espresso, pineapple and jalapeno and grapefruit and rosemary.
Each bottle (€7) also has a label with instructions and pairing ideas and serves two to three people.
Find Foxglove at Mahon Point and Skibbereen farmers markets or on your local Neighbourfood online market. You can also order online and collect in Cork city on Fridays or choose delivery options if your within 10km of Cork city.Â
See more on www.foxglovecocktails.ieÂ
Craft Cocktails is the brainchild of the bartenders at Bar 1661, and are hand mixed and bottled in Dublin using all-natural ingredients and premium spirits.
You can get pretty much every classic flavour mix you can think off, from margaritas to mai tais and negronis, as well as some specialty and limited edition offerings.
Bottles come in either size 200ml (€12.50), which serves two people, or 700ml (€35), for seven servings.
You can also order personalised bottles from €17.50, which make for great gifts.
Order online on www.craftcocktails.ie or find in various outlets across Ireland.
