#ShopLocal: The Irish gin we’re stocking up on for Christmas this year

Having a truly great cocktail recipe in your back pocket for the holidays will gain you a title of Best Hostess 2020 – and Drumshanbo Gin is the perfect base to start with

While our Christmas parties and New Year’s gatherings won’t be quite as sparkly as we had hoped this year, there’s still no excuse not to get your glad rags on and celebrate the end of a year we’d all like to forget. 2020 has taken away many things, but it hasn’t dashed our hopes of celebrating the holidays – we just have to tweak a few little details.

One detail we’ll be making a tradition, though, is our choice of gin this Christmas. We’ve all been making more of an effort in 2020 to shop local and to spend our money in Irish businesses who need support. And of course, it’s a pure stroke of luck that Ireland has so many fantastic distilleries and breweries to tide us over for our festive party needs.

Drumshanbo Gin is one of three beautiful creations from The Shed Distillery. Based in (you guessed it) Drumshanbo in Co. Leitrim, The Shed was founded by experimental distiller PJ Rigney, who dreamt of running his own distillery in the untamed heartlands of rural Ireland.

The Shed prides itself on moving back towards traditional distilling, using copper pots and column stills, and experimenting with the wild flora of the surrounding area, and the discoveries that PJ had made on his travels around the world, to find the perfect flavours for their products.

The result is one of the country’s finest gins, Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. Blending 12 unique botanicals, sourced from Drumshanbo, China, India and Europe, The Shed uses a meticulous process to merge the scents and flavours, both by hand-slow-distilling in medieval copper pot stills, and vapour infusing gunpowder tea, lemon, oriental grapefruit and Kaffir lime. The result is a smooth-bodied gin with a fresh and exotic flavour, that comes alive with a long, spicy finish.

Sound like a party to you? One of our favourite ways to enjoy Drumshanbo is with a cocktail, and our personal favourite at this time of year is The Ginger Jackalope. Put your lockdown skills to the test, and impress with this fruity and spicy creation, whether it’s in person, or at your next Zoom get-together.

The Ginger Jackalope

Ingredients

• 50ml Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin
• 20ml lemon juice
• 20ml pineapple juice
• 10 ml sugar syrup
• 4-5 raspberries
• Thomas Henry Ginger Beer

Method

1.  Muddle raspberries, and sugar in a cocktail shaker (tip: if you don’t have one, a large jam jar with a lid will work just fine)
2. Add Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, pineapple juice and lemon juice, add ice and shake for 8-10 seconds.
3. Fine strain into a rocks glass with ice.
4. Top with Thomas Henry Ginger Beer
5. Garnish: Raspberries and pineapple leaves

*Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin is available across all retailers in Ireland, and Thomas Henry Ginger Beer can be found in O’Briens nationwide.