Amy Walsh/ Spirit Guide, The Lodge at Woodloch, Hawley, Pennsylvania

Photo Credit: Amy Walsh

Spirit Season

Shortly after Amy Walsh’s father was diagnosed with dementia, she took him on a dream vacation to Ireland, where she fell in love with the history of Irish whiskey. Amy had been taking what she thought was a hiatus from social work to wait tables at The Lodge at Woodloch, a luxury destination spa resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. With her newfound enthusiasm for artisan spirits, Amy started bartending; working on whiskey certifications, and leading tasting classes. Then, The Lodge’s wine and spirits director, Leslie Britt, took a tour of the Irish Whiskey Museum in Dublin with a ‘spirit guide.’ “Leslie came home and said, ‘We have to call you the spirit guide!’ Amy recalls. “I was sold. What a cool title!”

The title has guided Amy on a journey of world spirits education that includes certifications from the Edinburgh Whiskey Academy in Irish whiskey, Scotch whiskey, and gin. She recently became a certified bourbon professional from the U.S Council of Whiskey Masters. She’s also earned her WSET Level 1 Award in spirits and wine and started work on Level 2.

Amy conducts whiskey tastings, reveling in the story behind small batch imported and domestic brands. Most of the artisan whiskies she curates are family-owned and sustainably produced. Behind the bar, Amy mixes drinks that complement the unique flavor profile of each spirit. Renowned for its award-winning wine list and farm-to-table cuisine, The Lodge at Woodloch has been part of Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards for 10 years running and in 2025 was named the #1 Best All-Inclusive Resort by USA Today.

The Perfect Purée is used extensively at The Lodge in bar, kitchen, and pastry applications. Amy values its clean-label properties; all Purées, Zests, Concentrates and blends are free of artificial colors and flavors, preservatives, and genetically-modified ingredients. “It’s made of good, clean ingredients, which is important at The Lodge,” Amy says. “It’s everything that we want to put in people’s bodies.”

User Tip: Find the right fruit for whiskey cocktails (and put it in a squeeze bottle)

Most bartenders agree, mixing whiskey-based cocktails with fruit is tricky. Most whiskey, bourbon, and rye tend to have big personalities that take center stage. At first, Amy made drinks with fresh, seasonal fruits. “I just figured choosing fruit would be the easy part,” she says. “But bourbon and rye have personalities all their own; bourbon is rich and sweet, with a lively spice. A subtle fruit like fresh blueberries can vanish instantly, while a tart or overpowering choice can compete or clash with the whiskey instead of complementing it.”

Amy pairs The Perfect Purée Blood Orange with Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey. Intense, aromatic blood orange complements the whiskey’s robust, herbaceous flavor and notes of cinnamon spice, vanilla, green apple and fig. “This is the perfect fall cocktail,” Amy says, “Blood Orange adds a confident pop of bittersweet citrus that brightens the drink without overshadowing the whiskey. It’s one of my favorite flavors to use in the fall and winter months.”

Prickly Pear is considered a fall fruit and goes well with Social Still Sasquatch Vanilla Maple Bourbon. Amy deepens the drink’s flavor with cinnamon, agave syrup, and drizzles olive oil on the surface to cut the sweetness and give it a silky texture. She pairs another tart fall fruit, Green Apple, with JJ Corry’s The Hanson Irish Whiskey. Honey syrup, fresh lemon juice, and cinnamon liqueur enhance the drink’s comforting, restorative profile. For garnish, she dips a slice of green apple in cinnamon.

There is room for Blueberry Puree and more often, White Peach, next to some whiskies, Amy says. “White Peach is soft and floral and good for complementing a bourbon’s vanilla and honey or smoothing rye’s peppery bite,” she says. Now, when I reach for fruit, I’m thinking about weight and balance, not just what’s in season. Sometimes it doesn’t always work, but most of the time it does. It’s just pairing the right flavors with that whiskey.”

When she reaches for The Perfect Purée, it’s usually in a squeeze bottle, which helps efficiency. “If it’s not too thick, I like to have it in a squeeze bottle,” she says.

The Irish Approach

On a recent trip with Leslie to Ireland, Amy learned Irish whiskey culture embodies subtlety and harmony. “[Irish whiskey] is triple distilled to smooth out the rough edges, uses grains like unmalted barley to add creaminess, and has cask choices [that] layer in fruit, spice, vanilla, and the nutty notes that translate so well on your palate,” she says.

The trip shifted the way she thinks about flavor and balance. “Applying the Irish approach to cocktails reminded me that not every drink needs to be bold or heavy. Sometimes the magic is in restraint. I returned with a renewed focus on crafting cocktails where the spirit shines and it’s supported by flavors that enhance rather than compete.”

She channels her Irish heritage into drink-making metaphors. “The whiskey plays the solo like a fiddler in a traditional Irish band, while the fruit is the bodhrán (drums), beating in harmony right alongside keeping the tune rolling.”