One example of her hospitality was evident on a Winters night when a Judge and his clerk were tarvelling from Kilrush to Ennis and were caught in a storm. They were forced to take Shelter at Fanny O Dea’s roadside cottage. The capable woman of the house immediately set about making them comfortable. Soon a good fire was blazing, their clothes were drying, and then like a fairy Godmother, Fanny produced her specialty drink, two whiskey Egg Flips made from her very own secret recipe.
The Judge was delighted and amazed at such fare and he certainly intended to honour the drink by having several others. But flies appeared in the ointment upon reflection the Judge decided he could not accept these drinks without payment, and paying for them would be acknowledging illicit trading. His judicial mind was equal to the occasion, realising that the drinks were necessary and in order that he might legally pay for his entertainment and have a jolly time he there and then made out a license for the sale of Intoxicants signed it Robert Vere O Brien, handing it to Fanny saying this is your first license, now you may sell intoxicating drink. This is how the house got its first license.
Thus this good woman’s fame arose, The Judge broadcasted it, and the business grew and soon the cottage became too small and expansion was necessary. And from that day till this, eggs from hens fed on Irish Barley are dexterously blended with Irish Barley Whiskey to produce the famous Egg Flip which can be enjoyed by the same turf fire where the Judge dried his clothes, sipped on the Egg Flip and signed that first License.