drink up Non-alcoholic whiskey and rum? What's the point?
That's the usual reaction Breda Merity and Gerard Loh get from browsers at farmers' markets who come across their family-run business, 85 POP, which sells a wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks imported from Spain. "But we are also getting comments such as 'it's about time there were more choices for tea-totallers', Merity says. The company's range of 50 drinks on offer includes sparkling and still wines, liqueurs, cordials, and artificial-additive-free fizzy and still juices and drinks that would be ideal for lunchboxes. Prices range from 75 cent for the juices to €7 for a litre of the rum - which Merity says makes a delicious flavouring for bracks and cakes as well as being a good base for non-alcoholic cocktails. The 85 POP range is on sale at the food market in the People's Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin on Sundays (10.30am to 5.30pm), as well as from Nolans Supermarket, and Barcode at WestWood, both in Clontarf, Co Dublin; The Party Warehouse, Swords, Co Dublin; Dolan's and Lilac Wines, both on Philipsburgh Avenue, Dublin, Dublin 3. 85 POP, 85 Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9 (01-8360647). Marie-Claire Digby
tasty work Christine Jordan's Tasteworks Cookery School in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow has proved so popular with aspiring Jamie Olivers that she has had to take on two new tutors and expand her range of evening classes and weekend workshops. Food and Wine Matching (Saturday, October 14th) and A Vegetarian Christmas (Sunday, November 5th) are forthcoming highlights. See the full programme at www.tasteworks.net. Marie-Claire Digby