Women and Irish Whiskey - Aisling Bea Widens the Circle
30th August 2022
Aisling Bea
encourages you to 'Widen the Circle'
On my recent trip to Midleton
Distillery in Ireland I attended a
Jameson cocktail making class which was
presented by Kieran Keane who would
normally be found working as Jameson's
Craft Ambassador at Jameson Bow
Street in Dublin, but on this
occasion he was down in at the Midleton
Distillery to present this special
cocktail making class along with a very
special assistant, Irish comedian, actor
and writer Aisling Bea.
You may know Aisling as the creator and
star of BAFTA award winning show 'This
Way Up' and star of Netflix's 'Living
With Yourself, she is known for her
quick wit and for bringing people
together making her and ideal choice for
Jameson to head up their international
'Widen The Circle' campaign which
invites people to reach out and invite
others in for those moments of authentic
human connection.
For the occasion Kieran put a spin on a
classic whiskey sour cocktail which he
had created especially for Aisling Bea
and Aisling played the role of Kieran's
glamorous assistant in her own quick
witted way.
The cocktail was The Bumble Bea:
The Bumble Bea Jameson Irish Whiskey Cocktail
Ingredients:
50 ml Jameson Irish Whiskey
25 ml Lemon Juice
15 ml Orange and Vanilla Honey
Syrup
10 ml triple sec
25 ml egg whites
1 pinch spirulina powder
2 dashes angostura bitters
2 dashes angostura orange
Method:
To make the infused honey
syrup is easy (we promise): 1
jar honey ; 1/2 jar water; 1
orange; Vanilla extract or
vanilla pods. Simply put the
honey and water in a pot and
bring to the boil. Add vanilla
extract to taste and the orange
peel. Pour into a container and
allow to infuse for 24 hours.
More extract can be added to the
drink itself should you feel you
would like more vanilla notes.
Empty your glass of ice and
strain the shaker contents into
the chilled glass.
Grab your shaker, measure
and ingredients.
Add all ingredients to your
shaker.
Two part shake; dry shake
the contents first with no ice.
Shake for around 5 seconds to
mix the ingredients. Then add
ice and shake vigorously.
Empty your glass of ice and
strain the shaker contents into
the chilled glass.
Garnish with orange oil by
pinching some orange peel over
the glass.
Rub the peel along the rim +
stem and finish this by placing
the orange peel on top of serve.
Spirulina powder is a seaweed and
algae extract. It’s a sustainable
ingredient which contains a high
source of plant protein. It has
minimal impact on the flavour of the
serve but adds that lovely hint of
green. Be very careful with it as I
got it all over my hands which
turned them a shade of green, but
thank goodness it washed off easily
and as it turned out I didn't add
enough to my cocktail mix which
meant it ended up a rather
unappealing shade of brown, but it
still tasted ok. If you don't have
any or don't want to use it then it
will not make much, if any,
difference other than cosmetic.
Following my cocktail making session I
attended an informal round table chat
with Aisling who absolutely dismisses
the myth that whisk(e)y is a mans drink,
as she pointed out, her mum drinks
whiskey and so does she, it was normal
to her. Aisling has very much been
around the champagne lifestyle in her
line of work and would thank you more
for a whiskey.
Of course it was surreal to hear her
casually say that when she mentioned to
her friend Paul Rudd (yes the Hollywood
movie star) that she had accepted the
job with Jameson to spearhead their
international 'Widen The Circle'
campaign he thought that it was a cool
job to land, it just shows how highly
thought of a brand Jameson whiskey is
and with good reason, they do produce
some very good and unique Irish
whiskey's and it great to see Jameson
bringing the brand to the attention of a
wider audience, including woman.
Whiskey can be for everyone no matter
how they like to drink it, as I say
whisky is best enjoyed how you like it
and it is not a pretentious drink like
champagne, it is a great social drink to
be shared with friends so next time you
pour yourself a dram why not widen your
circle and share it with friends.
Slainte
Midleton Distillery Visit - Related
Articles
During my visit to Midleton as well as
having an in depth break down of the
Jameson Black Barrel Cask Strength
I also had the chance to taste the
new higher strength Jameson 18 Year
Old which was presented to me by Master
Distiller Kevin O'Gorman and to top off
my visit I had the pleasure of
meeting Irish comedian, actor and writer
Aisling Bea who is spearheading
Jameson's
'Widens the Circle' campaign
and all with a good helping of her quick
wit.
Here are some related articles from my
recent Midleton Distillery visit::
