Fancy a scoop of gin and tonic?

INVENTIVE ice-cream maker Michael O’Dowd has come up with a new flavour - gin and tonic.

The Enniscrone based gelato expert says he was experimenting for a month before getting the mixture just right and putting it on the market.

“We had made a Guinness and a whiskey chocolate before and we have a baileys flavour but this was something new,” he says. So how does it taste?

“It is just like the real thing. It is very strong. There is about three quarters of a bottle in each tub that we make,” he explains.

So is it safe to eat and drive? Michael assures me that if you ‘stick to just the one’ you’ ll be fine!

“Everything is watered down,” he adds. Michael who opened up his store ‘Gelati’ in Enniscrone three years ago set up a second shop in Ballina this Summer. Business is booming, he says, with a seasonal staff of 30.

“That drops in the winter to about four full time staff, but we had a great summer despite the poor weather,” he adds.

And Michael’s latest twist on his home-made ice cream looks set to increase sales even further.

“I put a picture on Facebook of the gin and tonic flavour and it just went viral. By that evening we got 20,000 hits and the post has now been shared almost 500,000 times.”

Customers are making their way to Enniscrone to sample the goods, as Michael says: “Last week a french couple were eating at The Pilot Bar in town and asked the waitress where they could get the gin and tonic ice-cream?”