Not much wonder brunch is catching on, shunting the stodgier tradition of Sunday lunch into a deep slumber. Whether you're sloping off a deux to munch San Francisco crab cakes in a snazzy little restaurant, or inviting a heap of friends and their children to feast at your own table, brunch is carefree and easy and fun. Capture the mood and enhance it with light, refreshing drinks. You're as far as can be from serious claret, tinged with the savoury bite of the roast.
My favourite brunch beverage is bubbly of some sort - either on its own or as the magic ingredient in a cocktail mixed with some delicious, fresh-tasting juice. It's light enough to be appealing, even on a ragged morning after an over-indulgent night before, and I love the way it creates an instant atmosphere of celebration as well as a miraculously instant flow of conversation. Nineteen people out of 20 adore the stuff, so why not pamper them? As an extra bonus, fizz (unlike most still wines) is just the thing to cut through the tongue-coating creaminess of brunchtime eggs.
Champagne is obviously the ultimate treat. The big headache is the cost. With most quality champagnes here priced at around £25 a bottle or more, and many of the cheaper brands frankly so nasty to drink that they're simply not worth buying, it's difficult to plot a middle course between bankruptcy and bitter indigestion. Help is on tap, however. I've just discovered the Bubble Brothers, a new Cork enterprise which imports a range of champagnes direct from small growers. Billy Forrester hit on the idea last September at his wedding in France, where the guests knocked back prodigious quantities of good but not particularly expensive champagne, carefully sourced from a recoltant- manipulant - a grower making wine mainly from his own grapes. It was Pierlot Fils Grande Reserve Brut, our Bottle of the Week. With no middlemen (Pierlot enjoys delivering consignments to Cork himself every couple of months), the price - £18 a bottle, based on a minimum purchase of six - offers the sort of value Irish champagne lovers have been longing for.
Whatever bubbles you choose, it's important for midday consumption that they shouldn't taste too tart - so aim for the fuller, rounder end of the flavour spectrum if your fizz is to star in its own right. Some of the better sparkling wines from the New World are probably a wiser bet than leanand-mean cheapie champagnes. Spanish Cava, fun summer drink though it is, can also be a touch aggressive early in the day. However, I believe that if you're adding fruit juice to your bubbly, quality and subtlety matter much less. The juice will be the dominant partner, so it's more important to focus on quality there and economise on the booze. A quick poll of Dublin's most popular brunch spots suggests two of the most popular drinks are Bellinis (sparkling wine and peach juice) and Mimosas (sparkling wine and orange juice: it sounds so much less trashy than Buck's Fizz).
Also still clinging to its high brunch-time profile - partly because of hangover cure claims - is the Bloody Mary. If you're launching into these at home without experience, be warned: vodka and tomato juice may be the main elements, but it's the other ingredients that make the difference between success and limp disaster. Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper, lemon juice, celery salt, shavings of fresh horseradish . . . omit these and risk a bloodied reputation as a drinks whizz. Trevor Browne of Dish even adds a dash of dry sherry for extra zing.
The great thing about going to all this, eh, bloody effort, is that you can mix plenty, minus the vodka, and have jugs of Virgin Mary on the table as they do in the Mermaid Cafe. It should be just one of a repertoire of soft drinks you lay on for people who don't want to drink alcohol but still need something perky to sip. Scan the shortlist below for other ideas, including good Irish apple juice, pretty-looking pink grapefruit juice and the light, spritzy elderflower drink that's such a wow in Eden. Gallons of mineral water, both sparkling and still, are also as utterly vital as a decent brew of coffee.
Now wine - bottom of the heap for once, but not to be totally discounted if the food you're serving veers from breakfast towards the salads and fish dishes or light meats of a summery lunch. Here again, it's worth thinking about the right level of acidity - enough to awaken the tastebuds and refresh, but not so much as to sour the whole experience. White wine will disappear fastest, especially if it's a softish, not too oaky, Chardonnay or a Sauvignon tempered with Semillon. If you want to serve red as well, aim for something light and fruity which you can serve slightly chilled - a Beaujolais, for instance, or an untrumpeted Loire beauty such as the Saumur-Champigny listed below.