Raise a glass to Cask!

This means that the restaurants and bars don’t have to raise prices as much as it was feared – price hikes are still happening all over the place with big gaps in supply chains not seeing an end any time soon.

More good news came last week with Cask in McCurtain Street being voted one of the top 10 cocktail bars in Europe – no mean feat when you consider how many bars were considered. Having opened in 2017 as an additional offering to Greenes Restaurant, Andy Ferreira and Bryan McCarthy have created a beautiful drink and food menu mixed with great music that has been loved by Corkonians ever since.

Andy has put his own stamp on classical cocktails with his handmade mixtures and tinctures. Later in the year, Andy will open a new venue in Cork – can’t wait to see what he will be up to this time!

But what makes a good award-worthy cocktail bar? I have been to a ‘few’ in my time and have ‘sampled’ the odd cocktail so I consider myself a semi expert when it comes to judging a good bar (same goes for pubs and restaurants – at least in my humble opinion) and it is more than just being able to mix a few spirits together.

It’s the atmosphere mostly and that can’t be created by painting by numbers but by the people involved. It’s the background, the food, the music, the staff, the guests and last but not least the cocktails.

I used to go to two lovely bars in Berlin – one was in a hotel and rather posh with a piano player who had a beautiful blues voice. The interior was dark wooden panels with deep leather seats and the staff was efficient and very discreet. The cocktails weren’t innovative but classic and you wouldn’t expect anything else – you came to relax.

The other one was near the busy city centre with a completely different feel – bright and loud, it catered for the people on a proper night out. Cocktails were less classic but hip with loads of little extras. It was the perfect spot to be seen.

I liked them both for different reasons – both still exist by the way.

What they both had in common was that they knew their clientele pretty well and knew what they needed to do.

The team at Cask is doing exactly the same – making it a great place to meet up with friends while enjoying some tasty food and delicious cocktails.

I still remember my first ever cocktail – it was in the Dominican Republic when I was almost 19 years old.

I had travelled alone (my first ever journey on my own) and the barman in the hotel made an awesome pina colada and it is still one of my favourite cocktails.