Latest news with #BoatyardDistillery
Times
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The coolest cocktail this summer? It's not an Aperol Spritz
Certain moments stand out in Declan McGurk's memory. The Irishman and former director of beverages at the Savoy Hotel in London recounts the moment when a certain Irish Bond actor called by the bar and ordered — what else? A martini. 'It was almost too perfect,' McGurk says, smiling. Now the managing director of the Boatyard Distillery, McGurk uses his experience of serving world-beating cocktails to customers such as Pierce Brosnan to inform the brand's international expansion. Founded by Joe McGirr on the banks of Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh, Boatyard Distillery can claim an impressive female master distiller in Órlaith Kelm, one of many local talents set on seeing Boatyard conquer the US. 'We've carefully seeded the brand across key states,' McGurk explains, 'and have recently been taken on by a major distributor.' Tariffs, he says, are not an immediate concern. 'We can only deal with what's in front of us today,' he says. The martini trend is not harming their ambitions. • How to make the perfect martini, according to the Connaught 'Coming from New York this week, I can tell you that martinis are absolutely trending there,' he says. 'And Europe is catching up.' McGurk has advice for the martini novice. 'First think about setting,' he says. 'Obviously I recommend having a martini made by an expert, but if you're mixing martinis at home my advice is to prepare ahead of time. To get the right temperature, and to avoid using too much ice that will dilute the drink, mix your martini about 90 minutes ahead of serving time. Pop the ingredients in a bottle — a plastic bottle will do, adding a good measure of water. Pop that in the freezer, then grab it when your guests arrive. This is your route to a clean, perfectly chilled martini.' So what's prompting the martini movement? 'It's a combination of factors,' McGurk says. 'First you had the pandemic, when people realised that one or two great drinks is often preferable to ten bad ones. Then you have the fact that martinis are timeless, unisex and just really classy,' he says. 'The best way to drink them is pre-dinner. Go for a plate of oysters and a dirty martini before your steak dinner. That's a night out.' Can we drink martinis all night long? Not ideally, McGurk says. 'A martini is designed to be sipped slowly. And it's definitely the case that four martinis would have you on the floor,' he adds. Noted. Here are three new recipes for a drink that's been in style for decades. • 50ml Boatyard Double Gin• 25ml dry vermouth• 2 dashes orange bitters• Ice 1. A martini is always best served in a chilled glass, so before you build your drink, put your martini glass in the freezer to chill.2. Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass or cocktail shaker and fill it generously with ice. The key to a good martini is getting it ice cold while controlling dilution.3. Using a cocktail bar spoon, stir the ingredients with the ice for approximately 15-20 seconds.4. Strain into the chilled martini glass and garnish as you prefer. The garnish you use is totally up to preference. Pop a lemon peel over the martini or drop an olive or three into your glass. Enjoy. Cocktails at Hawksmoor are deceptively simple-seeming drinks that belie the hours of painstaking research, travel, tastings and technique that the bar teams have put into them. • 45ml vodka • 15ml gin• 15ml dry vermouth• 5ml pink onion pickle* 1. Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass, garnish with a pink pickled onion**. * To make the pickle 1. Dissolve 250g sugar and 5g salt into 500ml of rice wine vinegar.2. Heat the pickle and pour over two sliced red onions.3. Leave for a few hours until the liquid and the onions have gone a uniform pink colour.4. Strain and bottle the brine. ** To make the garnish onions 1. Add some of the pink brine to a drained jar of silverskin onions and leave to colour. For extra pinkness add some dried hibiscus flowers. A smoky, peated twist on the classic martini — bold, elegant, and distinctly Irish, by Rachele Bonifacio, bar operations manager. • 60ml Method & Madness gin• 15ml Antica Formula vermouth• 5ml Teeling Blackpitts Peated Single Malt Whiskey 1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass filled with ice2. Stir until well chilled and properly diluted3. Strain into a Nick & Nora glass4. Garnish with a twist of orange peel, and enjoy.
Belfast Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Belfast International makeover: Passengers glad airport has ‘come into 21st century'
The £25m revamp includes a new security hall with the 'latest technology' so that passengers can leave their liquids and laptops in their hand luggage while they go through the scanners. There is also a new walk-through duty-free experience, which was launched by the First and Deputy First Minister this morning, and a new arrivals hall. Belfast couple Catherine and Peter O'Reilly were heading to Rhodes this afternoon and travelled through the airport for the first time in almost six years. 'This is the first time I've been in the airport since 2019 and it's absolutely brilliant the way it's all been done up,' said Catherine. 'The duty free layout is really great, far better than it was before I personally think, because there's far more of a flow to it. It is very good.' She added that her previous memories of the old airport are 'mixed' because there was 'a lot of queuing and a lot of smaller spaces'. 'This is far more expanded and it feels more bright, and more like an international airport,' Catherine continued. 'Far better than when you would go into some airports you would say 'wow' and then you would come in here beforehand, and wish they'd sort of modernise it a bit more, so this is looking really great. I'm glad they've decided to come into the 21st century. 'They [tourists] have come in and seen all our beautiful country and then they would have come to the airport and been like 'ugh', but now it's a good end to their trip. 'The waiting time [going through security] was bad, but it's far better and quicker, and the staff are always pleasant anyway. Today, I found it really good; a lot quicker.' Frequent flyers John and Linda Rankin from Antrim, agreed with that sentiment, before jetting off to Marmaris in Turkey. Linda says 'it's better laid out this time and looks bigger'. 'Security was brilliant. I thought the security was fantastic getting through there — not a problem having to take this out of your bag and that out of your bag, or taking your shoes off all the time. It's definitely an improvement.' Sisters Hessie Calder and Vivienne Greenlee — from Carrickfergus and Larne — are set for an 11-day getaway in Tunisia. They think everything about the airport is 'perfect' now. Hessie said that previously, she had waited over an hour to get through security at times, but today took around three minutes. 'It's a lot easier; no queues, no nothing. Duty free is lovely, it's well set out and massive and well advertised.' The airport plays a critical role for aviation, tourism and the local economy employing over 4,000 people across the site. The new duty-free is also now home to a lot more homegrown Northern Irish brands, including local favourites McConnell's, Bushmills, and Boatyard Distillery, as well as Born and Bred, a Belfast-based store that showcases locally designed gifts and products. In previous surveys during recent years, Belfast International Airport has been ranked as one of the UK's worst airports. One 2023 survey, conducted annually by consumer group Which?, put the airport in its bottom five, largely due to security waiting times and check-in queues. The new terminal extension aims to challenge that, with one spokesperson stating that the average waiting times in security are now around four minutes per passenger. Dan Owens, chief executive of the airport, said: 'We're really trying to drive that customer experience. 'With the new security hall, we've got six new lanes and the latest tech and equipment. Everything we've done is about enhancing capacity and the passenger experience as well.' It's the first complete investment, part of a £100m five-year plan that the airport announced 18 months ago. It also includes a partnership with Tourism Northern Ireland, involving initiatives like the Northern Ireland Spirits Trail, highlighting the region's rich distilling heritage. One thing that won't be included in the investment plan is the return of the departure lounge smoking area, which closed amidst some public criticism in January. It was the last airport in Northern Ireland to have a smoking area within the terminal, with no facilities available at Belfast City Airport or City of Derry Airport. Mr Owens reiterated to The Belfast Telegraph that the smoking area was 'unfortunately vandalised' which meant they had to remove it. 'We're now consistent with the majority of airports in the UK which have external smoking areas,' he concluded.
