Irish Whiskey Drinks

Mixologist John Coltharp likes making this Champagne cocktail with herbal, woody Jameson 12-year Irish whiskey (made in Ireland’s County Cork).

For hot punches, young Irish whiskeys work best. Heat intensifies the tannic edge of older whiskeys; young ones stay smooth.

According to the Irish-born Sean Muldoon, Irish people often drink whiskey mixed with ginger, honey and lemon to treat colds. This is a version of that potion. “With a bit of hot water,” he says, “it becomes a terrific toddy.”

Mixologist Jacques Bezuindenhout’s sour, which references the iconic firearm wielded by Prohibition-era gangsters, gets its zing from spicy fresh ginger and a generous pour of Irish whiskey.

This creamy, spiced drink honors an Irish Halloween bread called barm brack, which contains currants and raisins. Traditionally, various objects—a coin, a ring, a pea—were baked inside the loaf as a kind of fortune-telling game.

In this pleasantly tart punch, David Wondrich mixes Irish whiskey with gin to mimic the taste of a richer, older style of gin.

Sean Muldoon likes drinking this tart, sherry-spiked Champagne cocktail with shellfish, especially shrimp, lobster or crab.

“This is the drink I would choose instead of dessert after a big meal,” says John Coltharp. Fruity, spicy Redbreast Irish whiskey is excellent with the blackberries.

Christopher Elbow mixed up a chocolate-and-whiskey liqueur that’s creamy, boozy and delicious—straight up, over ice or even over ice cream. Elbow says, “The consensus at the Christmas party was that if we could get a liquor license, we should sell this at our shop!”