Irish comedian ARDAL O'HANLON: ‘I wouldn't mind sharing a beer with Roger Federer and picking up a few tennis tips'

Daily Mail​

14-06-2025

I loved milky coffee from a very early age. My mother would be having a coffee when I'd come home from primary school, so I'd boil some milk, make a coffee – I think it was just Nescafé – and put a spoon of honey in it. We'd just sit there, like two old ones, and chat away about the day before I got on with my busy schedule of playing football outside.
I had my first drink, which was a pint of Smithwick's, at 15. My friends and I really planned it. We dressed up – I remember wearing a tank top and a tie to look a bit older – and went to a little country pub in a village called Essexford, about five miles from Carrickmacross, the town we grew up in, where they wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
My wife Melanie and I were teenagers when we started going out. For our first formal date I pulled out all the stops and made beef bourguignon with one of those horrible, powdery packets and got a bottle of red wine. I think it might have been Le Piat D'Or. At the time there were only three or four different wines in the shop – you got what you got.
A few years ago I was paid in wine and paintings for some stand-up shows in Paris. The guy who promoted the gigs ran a gallery next to the venue, so I picked up a couple of nice paintings, which I still have in my bathroom. Then he put me on the back of a scooter and we went to this little shop where I managed to get a bottle of Château Latour from 1965, which is now worth around £700.
When I was shooting Death In Paradise on Guadeloupe, I came up with this beautiful concoction of local rum, lime juice and honey. I'd sit outside my villa after a hard day's work, drinking it and watching the sun set in the Caribbean sea.
Sam Neill came to my house with some of his exceptional Pinot Noir. He has his own vineyard, Two Paddocks, in New Zealand and we became friendly for a little when he was working in Ireland. He's a polymath; he's a really good actor, very entertaining and a great anecdotalist.
I'd like Wes Anderson to offer me a job and break open a bottle of wine after I sign the contract. I'm also really into sports – I play a lot of tennis and have always admired Roger Federer, so I wouldn't mind sharing a beer with him and picking up a few tips on how to do that one-handed backhand.
Friday evening is cocktail hour. My kids, the ones that are still in the country, will come round or we'll have guests. I love to make good margaritas with Cointreau as the triple sec, Patrón Silver tequila and lime juice. I don't like them sweet so I go easy on the agave, if I use it at all. I will also stray a little bit and make spicy margs.
For my wife's birthday a few years ago, I invented a cocktail I called the rusty coalman for no good reason other than it was rust coloured. It had gin that I'd infused with coriander for three weeks, vermouth, maraschino and cherry liqueur, garnished with burnt orange and rosemary from the garden. This was during Covid, when there was time to experiment. It wasn't great but it looked good and a lot of effort went into it.
I love vermouth, not so much for the drink but for the iconography of the labels. Last year I visited the islands of Ireland for a documentary and was given a bottle of Valentia Island vermouth. It's beautifully packaged and only uses native ingredients from this island [off the southwest coast of Kerry]. I've been sampling it ever since with a twist of orange and a little bit of tonic.