There’s nothing unusual these days about a city centre bar providing a delivery service to its clientele, but Bar 1661 – the spot just off Capel Street that was voted Ireland’s Best Cocktail Bar last year within six months of opening – is doing it in more style than most.
Rather than delivering bags of cans, bottles of wine or freshly poured pints, owner Dave Mulligan is staying true to his vision of high-quality drinks in stylish surroundings by offering signature bottle cocktails and ‘dream drams’ – 50ml servings of the finest whiskey on his bar’s shelves.
Each cocktail contains six or seven serves, and you can choose from eight tempting varieties, including 1661’s own Old Fashioned, Tommy’s Margarita and Aviation, made with County Down gins Echlinville and Weavers.
“They're really tasty,” says Dave, “I've sat down to a bottle of all of them myself. Not everyone wants another pack of cans and cheap white wine – just to mix it up a bit, it's a really nice product.
“I was only going to put these to market if I was happy with the liquid, the labelling and the shelf life. It had to feel like a premium product because I think that's what people have come to expect from this bar.”
Meanwhile, the ‘dream drams’ are a great way for whiskey enthusiasts to try a range of top-shelf spirits without having to shell out for a full bottle or, as Dave points out, even to try stuff they already own without having to crack it open.
“We're quite well known among the guys who are into the good whiskey,” Dave explains. “We sell our top-end stuff at a really good price – I'd rather sell it for a bit less money than dust a bottle for the next 12 months.
“We have access to all these lovely 50ml bottles, a nice label printer and we'll just sell the stuff we have that no-one else has. It's a phenomenal service, and it's been really well received.”
The third arm of Bar 1661’s new delivery service is hand sanitiser, which its partner distillery Echlinville had conveted to producing full-time. 30% of their output is being donated to those that need it, and the rest is being sold at €15 a litre – “the best price we can,” says Dave.
“There aren't a lot of people who can access large amounts of hand sanitiser and aren't in it for personal gain,” says Dave. “For me, we can provide this service so let's just do it.”
Dave and his staff are doing deliveries within a 10km radius of the bar, with the Celtic Whiskey Shop on Dawson Street is supplying customers around the country – and with the help of social media, the bar’s delivery service is spreading the word.
“There has to be a bit of marketing in this,” he adds. “I would say that eight out of ten people that get one of these bottled cocktails put it on Instagram because they're genuinely happy that they got it and they're enjoying it.
“That's great for us because we get to share that out and show that we are still here, still relevant and trying to survive.”
Immediately after the lockdown was announced in mid-March, Dave and his team started working on the new ideas, while spending long hours preparing the basement underneath the bar for a new long-term purpose as a mini bottling plant.
He admits that he’s sceptical about whether bars will be able to reopen in August as planned – even with strict social distancing procedures applied – so bottled cocktails and dream drams could well be here to stay.
“I don't see this service stopping,” he says. “I think it's going to be a new arm of our business. Twos, fours, the odd six will be comfortable coming to a bar, but I think we're a vaccine away from a group of 15 to 20 friends meeting up in a public space.
“It's a whole new world we're looking at. E-commerce is going to go through the roof, and I think [it will benefit] the ones who can adapt and change their business model.”
