Easy peasy Irish Soda Bread and Whiskey Butter for Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day is just around the corner. You know what that means: Irish whiskey time. Want to take it to the next level? We reckon you should give this super-duper easy classic a craic (see what we did there). So, pour yourself your favourite whiskey from The Emerald Isle and let’s get started! 

Ingredients:

1 cup raisins
½ cup whiskey — your choice
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ⅓ cup buttermilk
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup butter, at room temperature
Optional, if you want to add a zesty kick to your soda bread, you can add 1 tablespoon grated orange peel and 1 tablespoon caraway seeds 

Method:

1. First up, pop the raisins in a bowl then pour in your whisky. Allow the raisins to soak overnight or at least eight hours. 

2. Strain the raisins and keep the whiskey (we’re pretty sure you wouldn’t tip it down the sink, anyway ;-)). Preheat your oven to 175 degrees and grease a casserole dish.

3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir in drained raisins (and the orange peel and caraway seeds if that’s your thing). Beat in the buttermilk and 1/4 cup melted butter until the batter is nice and thick and all the ingredients are combined. Now put the batter into the casserole dish. 

4. Put the dish in the oven and cook until it’s a nice golden brown colour and a skewer comes out clean when you put it in the centre. It should take you about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

5. Now, let’s prepare the butter. Beat 1/2 cup butter in a bowl. You’ll want it to be nice and fluffy. Slowly beat in the whiskey you set aside earlier — about a teaspoon at a time. Serve with the soda bread and enjoy! 

Saint Patrick's Day is going to be HUGE here at the Club. The mighty Dunville's 13 Year Old Cigar Malt Created Exclusively for The Whisky Club just won 2025’s Best Small Batch Irish Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards, and now its way to win tens of thousands of whisk(e)y loving fans across Australia. 

That calls for a celebration! With your help, we’d love to make the biggest St Patrick’s Day Whiskey Event in Australia.

We’ll be sharing a dram with Dunville’s Head Blender Jarlath Watson on Saint Patrick's Day. And just by tuning in, you’ll be a part of the very first Dunville’s whiskey event in Australia! 

Even better, there’s a bottle of whisky up for grabs* for one lucky viewer. Hit that ‘going’ button on the Facebook event and we’ll give you a heads up before the action starts. See you soon, Whisky Clubbers!

We’ve adapted this recipe from allrecipes