Gin and tonic has become the go-to drink for practically half the country. The popular beverage has exploded in popularity over the past few years, and we’re not surprised.
As much as we love a G&T, we have to admit that we feel quite overwhelmed when we go to order one at the bar. What gin should I ask for? What type of tonic am I in the mood for? Will they add fruit? Or glitter?
We are spoiled for choice these days, but picking the perfect drink is tricky. Luckily, the Irish Gin and Tonic Fest is here to help.
They have just released Ireland’s best gin and tonic, which is bound to make your nights out that little bit easier.
This year’s festival ran across the 32 counties of Ireland with a total of 132 venues taking part and 16 GIN events throughout the country.
The 2018 edition featured 26 Irish gins that hail from every province in Ireland and are made with a huge variety of both farmed and wild Irish ingredients.
The festival asked the public to vote for their favorite #IrishGnT on Twitter and Instagram or by posting on the Great Irish Beverages Facebook page, and the results are in.
Bar manager of Russell’s, Jean McGuinness was thrilled with the result: “Everybody is so curious about Irish gin these days and they were excited to meet the distiller of our festival gin.”
“Our choice of using fresh pear with the blueberries went down a storm with our customers as they said the garnish really brought out the fruit in the gin and the bitterness in the Fever Tree tonic."
We love the sound of Russell’s pear and blueberry gin. We’ll certainly have to visit them this summer!
It's Friday ladies, and we cannot wait to cheer to the weekend with our friends with a nice G&T or a tasty glass of Prosecco.
But this week, we will make it extra special thanks to the help of one of Ireland’s best-loved chefs, Kevin Dundon.
When we talked to the SuperValu ambassador this week and asked him about a nice summer drink, let's say that Kevin delivered.
"Get some strawberries, or use the ones you have that are getting bruised, take the stems off, place into a blender with a sprig of fresh tarragon, a little bit of honey, and pulse until you get a lovely puree. You can use it with gin, place a little bit of that puree at the bottom of your glass, add ice, some gin, tonic, and garnish with a strawberry. You can use that same puree with Prosecco, it’s gorgeous!"
For those who don't want alcohol, the chef recommends to add some vanilla ice cream and a little bit of milk to the puree to get a lovely strawberry shake.
When it comes to gin and tonic, we can't get enough of the damn stuff.
And the more variations of it that are produced, the better.
So, when we heard Fortnum & Mason had launched gin and tonic tea bags, we thoughts all our mid-morning breaks had come at once.
But before you begin thinking your tea break will leave you with a raging hangover, let us fill you in.
The predominant ingredient in Tea for Tonic is green tea, but the luxury retailer has piqued the senses of G&T aficionados by also including a mixture of juniper berries, coriander, fennel, lemon balm and dried cucumber and lime
If you want to 'enjoy a G&T without the consequences' as the retailer perfectly puts it, you can order your box of 15 teabags right here.
And ladies if they're sold out by the time you get around to ordering them, you'll know who to blame.
'Citrusy on the nose, the palate is luscious and flavoursome with an indulgent sweetness and flavours of candied orange, herbs and spice,' reads the notes description.
You can purchase the mythical substance from Firebox (though they don't ship to Ireland, so you may need to Parcel Motel it over) or from Harvey Nichols.
Eddie Rocket's are now serving brunch – and we could not be happier about it.
The fast food diner have just unveiled their new menu, with a host of delicious brunch options sure to make any millenials mouth water.
From pancake stacks to avocado toast, there really is something for everyone and with the most expensive dish coming in at €9.50, these tasty treats won't break the bank either.
The new options available include:
The Big Breakfast – €9.50
Belgian Chocolate & Almond Short Stack – €6.95
Bacon & Maple Short Stack – €6.95
Sourdough Avocado Toast With Bacon & Egg – €7.95
What's more, the restaurant have added a bacon and avocado chicken or beef burger as well as four new salads in a bid to entice health conscious diners.
They'll also be serving 'veggie frites', or carrot sticks, green beans and courgettes sticks lightly seasoned with garlic and chilli, if you will.
The brunch menu will be served until 4.00pm daily, but many of the other new additions are available all day.
You can check out the full new Eddie Rocket's menu on their website now.
We won't lie, we are slightly jealous of Niamh O'Sullivan's life.
The 24 year-old Kildare-native moved to New York in October 2015 and since then, she has been giving a snapshot into her life in the Big Apple as well as sharing healthy recipes, fitness and motivation tips on her blog Cinnamon Soul.
While her Instagram feed frequently features icecreams and pancakes, Niamh tells SHEmazing all about her favourite foods and how living in New York is both heaven and hell for healthy eaters.
I tend to rotate between a fruit smoothie, protein pancakes, and fried eggs on toast.
It depends on whether or not I've been to the gym that morning, and how much time I have to whip something up.
What about lunch?
I'm living in New York at the moment and one of the best things about it is all of the food options at your disposal. With that said, the cost of groceries is extremely high, especially in Manhattan.
I find myself picking something up last minute every day like a salad or wrap from Pret a Manger. As long as it's fresh, I'm not too fussy.
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What do you usually have for dinner?
I'm a serious creature of habit so my dinner is usually fresh prawns with soybean spaghetti, fried in garlic, chilli & olive oil. So simple and SO tasty!
Is it different at the weekend?
The weekends are always my biggest downfall when I'm trying to stay healthy, but I am definitely not complaining!
Not only are there literally thousands of restaurants to choose from in New York, but there's always a new part of the city to explore too so it's always fun to try new places.
Naturally though, my weekends plans revolve solely on where and what I'm eating!
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Do you snack during the day?
My go-to snack at about 3pm every single day is a tub of 0% Fage yoghurt with frozen berries, almond butter and a few drops of MyProtein flavour drops to sweeten it up.
What would be your ideal food day?
Breakfast would be a massive bowl of granola, boring – I know, but my Mum makes the most delicious kind and I miss it so much since I moved away from home.
I love tapas and the way that you can be so social when you eat it, so I would probably opt for that for lunch.
Dinner would have to be a classic roast chicken with every single trimming possible.
Dessert would be a warm chocolate brownie or fondant with some pistachio or vanilla ice-cream. Or, my Mum's chocolate roulade – my mouth waters when I think about it!
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What is your favourite meal of the day?
Probably dinner because I usually don't have to be anywhere after I eat it, so I can eat as much as possible and then vegetate on the couch until I can move again, haha!
Your favourite restaurant in Dublin/Ireland/the world?
My favourite restaurant in Dublin is probably the Rustic Stone: you can't beat a good steak!
In Ireland, I think my favourite restaurant would have to be the K Thai in the K Club in Kildare.
I waitressed in the K Club all through college and for my last few months of working there, I worked full time in the K Thai I've tried every single thing on the menu and can safely say that there's not one thing that isn't delicious! I always go back every time I'm home and still catch up with the chefs who are so sound, couldn't recommend it highly enough.
At the moment I'm obsessed with a small Italian restaurant in Alphabet City in New York called Supper NYC. Cacio è Pepe is one of my favourite meals ever and this place has a delicious version (it's basically just spaghetti with cheese and pepper but it's divine).
My favourite restaurant always depends on my mood though so it changes regularly!
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The best brunch place in Dublin?
I actually have only tried one place since I've been living abroad for the past 18 months and lived in Galway prior to that. BUT, I went for bottomless brunch in Cleaver East while I was at home in March and it was delicious!
Any “food pet peeves”?
When restaurants don't take the tails off prawns. I hate working for my food – LOL!
I also hate when the restaurant doesn't tell you that what you're ordering definitely needs a side of veg or chips. Nothing worse than when you're finished your meal and have to ask to see the menu again because you're still starving.
What food would you not eat for the whole world?
Celery. I despise it more than anything and I can taste/smell/sense it a mile away. It physically makes me gag!
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Do you find it hard to eat a healthy diet in a daily basis?
Yes and no. In New York, there are so many healthy food options to choose from. But with that, there is also a massive amount of unhealthy options to test you.
If I'm on a roll with my healthy eating then I usually find it easy enough but the smell of pizza is always lingering!
What is your guilty pleasure?
Mayonnaise. I add it to the majority of my meals, I can't help myself.
We're both bemused and bewildered by this bar that offers women discounts based on their heel height.
Because… seriously?
We're all partial to Ladies' Night, which is hosted in many pubs, bars and clubs around the world, but Hilton Osaka’s My Place bar in Tokyo has really taken the creepy, sexist biscuit.
The named 'High Heels Ladies' Night Discount' is, believe it or not, a weekly event which offers women discounts based on the height of their.. you guessed it, heels.
Shoes have to be at least five centimetres in height to qualify for 10 per cent off your drink order.
According to Sora News 24, with every additional two centimetres, you get a further discount.
And if you have a heel height of 15 centimetres (do you want to break your back?), you will get a "top discount" of up to 40 per cent.
The gin received the grand title at The People's Drinks Awards, where the public blind tasted numerous gins and chose the most delicious.
'Brighton is such a creative, pioneering, free-thinking place, with a long-standing heritage of invention and pleasure seeking and a cast of notorious, mould-breaking characters throughout its history,' founder of Brighton Gin, Kathy Caton told Cosmo.
'With Brighton Gin, we wanted to create the absolute top quality spirit this city deserves and we’re ecstatic that people across the UK have voted us as the country’s best gin.'
Brighton Gin is made with 100% British organic wheat spirit, which we re-distill with juniper, fresh orange and lime peel, locally-grown coriander seed and milk thistle. Yum.
The gin is hand crafted in Brighton (duh) but there are more than a few online stockists who can deliver the smooth beverage straight to your door if you don't happen to be visiting the UK anytime soon.
Harvey Nichols, The Gin Box Shop, Vineyards Direct, Gin Festival, the Gin Kiosk, Craft Gins and Gin Parlour all stock the strong stuff, and you can even get it on Amazon.
We'll be waiting for our package in the mail like…
Say hello to The Night Blossom, a layered iced drink made with apple and pear flavoured limeade and topped with a generous helping of passion fruit boba balls.
The colourful drink reportedly tastes like sour Skittles and is made in the Pongu Pongu Lounge, in the parks new Avatar themed section.
Instagram has been flooded with snaps of the beautiful drink and every post makes us more envious than the last.
The drinks are exclusively available at Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park, and honestly, we're thinking a trip to Florida might be on the cards.
So, gin is definitely having a moment, with a number of gin festivals peppered throughout the summer events calendar.
For those of us who are in the mood to try a brand new beverage, it could be time to opt for a delicious, warming rum.
Brewtonic
Rumbullion is the latest alcohol festival to hit Dublin, and the annual event is taking place this weekend from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 of April.
The fest is being organised by Brewtonic and will take place at Wigwam on Middle Abbey Street.
And what's one of the best parts about this event?
Well, a free drink, obviously.
If you click attending on the event's Facebook page to sign up to the event, the guys and gals over at Wigwam will sort you out with a free Cuba Libre on the night.
As well as the free beverage, there will be live music, a series of DJs, rum-related games, foodie adventures, and, of course, the chance to try loads of rums on the day.
We put out a call for the best Food Influencer of the last 12 months, and you guys couldn't wait to share your thoughts on the subject.
Whether a health food junkie or fast food fanatic, this person's page pops, their enthusiasm motivates and their love of food always, always, always engages.
And as a nation of food and drink lovers, it's no surprise we are fascinated by food influencers and the effort they put it into their passion.
So, without further ado, here are your five finalist for our Food Influencer of the Year award.
Yummy Dublin
Amanda Holtz, the face behind the uber-popular Yummy Dublin, is on a mission to connect some of Dublin's tastiest establishments with her legions of loyal followers.
She may say she's 'just a girl and her fork eating (and drinking) her way through Dublin', but Amanda's keen eye for detail and ability to tap into her followers' interest on the gastronomy scene has earned her a very well-deserved place on our shortlist.
Cocu
Founded by Emilia Rowan, Cocu has become a firm favourite with foodies in Ireland.
Taking inspiration from far-flung lands while giving more than a passing nod to the important of local produce, the folk behind Cocu never fail to inspire, influence and invigorate.
French Foodie in Dublin
Ketty Elisabeth, the face of French Foodie in Dublin, started her blog in 2012 and has watched it grow in popularity over the past five years.
Authentic, passionate and utterly charming, if you want a unique look at the capital's gastronomy scene, French Foodie in Dublin has you covered.
The Happy Pear
When it comes to enthusiasm, these two guys have it in absolute spades.
Dave and Steve, the siblings behind The Happy Pear, are pros at communicating the importance of fresh food, the significance of simple recipes and the value of creating wholesome produce.
Gastro Gays
Russell James Alford and Patrick Hanlon established their blog back in 2013 and initially intended to review Dublin restaurants, but life got in the way and they ultimately found themselves in London where they really found their voice.
Their enthusiasm, warmth and passion for home cooking makes them two of the most relatable Food Influencers in the industry.
The product looks suspiciously like regular bottled water but, according to the company’s website, the drink is made from "high quality Arabica coffee beans."
They also say the coffee is made using "methods [that] have never been used before", which sounds both intriguing and absolutely terrifying.
CLR CFF was founded by two Slovakian brothers, David and Adam Nagy, who were fed up with the dreaded teeth-stains that every coffee drinker knows all too well.
David told The Evening Standard: "We are heavy coffee drinkers… Like many other people we struggled with the teeth stains caused by it. There was nothing on the market that would suit our needs so we decided to create our own recipe."
He continued, "Because of the hectic lifestyle we lead we wanted to make a refreshing ready-to-drink coffee which provides the boost but is low in calories.”
Not only will CLR CFF provide you with a quick caffeine fix while on the go, but it can also be used to gives cocktails and extra kick.
The drink has been described as ''unique in taste and flavour'', which doesn't fill us with hope – But hey, if it protects our winning smiles, we'll give it a try.
This stuff doesn't come cheap though – two bottles sell online for £5.99, and although one bottle is said to last all day, that's still a pretty expensive habit.
Oh, and while we have you; don't forget to have your say in the inaugural SHEmazing Awards this May! It's time to vote, and you can do it right here!
