Echlinville Distillery is adding the historic Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey brand to its portfolio of award winning whiskeys.
 
Based in Kircubbin, Echlinville and Newry’s Matt D’Arcy have forged an alliance that will see Echlinville mature, bottle and market Matt. D’Arcy’s Old Irish Whiskey and grow the brand in the global Irish whiskey market.
 
Founded in Newry, Co. Down in 1817, Matt. D’Arcy Whiskey was revived by Newry businessman Michael McKeown in 2020. It is the latest heritage whiskey brand to join the Echlinville line up.
 
Matt D’Arcy’s will sit alongside Echlinville’s award-winning Dunville’s Irish Whiskey range and the recently restored Old Comber Pot Still Irish Whiskey. The move sees three of Ireland’s most historic ‘lost’ whiskey brands brought together at the Co Down distillery that has established itself at the forefront of Ireland’s whiskey revival.

Shane Braniff, owner of The Echlinville Distillery, said: “We are delighted to welcome Matt D’Arcy into the Echlinville family and we look forward to sharing the story and celebrating the legacy of this proud Co. Down whiskey with our customers around the world.
 
“I have long had a passion for old Irish whiskey brands, particularly those from Co. Down, so I have followed with interest the revival of Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey over the past few years.
 
“At Echlinville, we know from first-hand experience the hard work, passion and dedication that goes in to restoring a historic name like Matt D’Arcy’s, and in doing so in a way that respects and celebrates the brand’s proud heritage. I congratulate Michael McKeown and his team at Matt D’Arcy & Co. Ltd in Newry for everything they have done to bring back this historic whiskey and we welcome Michael’s continued input into the future of the brand about which he is hugely passionate. We have also offered Michael our technical support as he pursues the redevelopment of the Old Distillery site in Newry in line with his vision to restore distilling to the city where Matt D’Arcy Whiskey was born.”
 

Echlinville is proud custodians of the iconic Dunville’s Irish Whiskey brand and recently revived the famous Old Comber Pot Still Irish Whiskey. Speaking about therole of heritage brands in Irish whiskey, Shane continued: “These old Irish whiskey brands are hugely important. Throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries they built an industry that was the envy of the world, and now their revival is playing an important role in the resurgence of that industry. In our view, names like Matt D’Arcy, Dunville’s and Old Comber deserve to be part of the Irish whiskey renaissance.”
 
Michael McKeown owner of Matt D’Arcy. said: “Having grown up in the production and selling of alcoholic drinks, I have the greatest respect for Shane Braniff at Echlinville, whose passion and enthusiasm for Irish whiskey heritage matches my own.
 
“Echlinville’s brands are now widely sold across Ireland, Europe and the rest of the world. When Shane offered to bring Matt D’Arcy along the path to international recognition, I was only too happy to entrust the brand into his care and I look forward to seeing it grow on the worldwide whiskey stage.
 
“The high cost of breaking into foreign markets is the biggest barrier to a small producer like Matt D’Arcy. Collaborating with an established player such as Echlinville will propel the brand towards future growth.”
 

Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s biggest dairy co-op, has reported what it describes as a ‘resilient’ performance in a challenging environment for the financial year ending March 2021.

The co-operative, has reported growth for 2020/21, with turnover up £19 million to £524 million.

Group operating profit was reported at £14 million, with the previous year being £12.2 million.

Dale Farm Group chief executive Nick Whelan said the breadth of sales channels allowed the co-op to benefit from an uplift in retail sales volumes in 2020/21.

This came despite a decline in foodservice sales volumes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Whelan added: “I am pleased to report another solid year of results for Dale Farm for 2020/21, achieved despite some challenges during the year, not least the pandemic.

“Additional operating costs were incurred during the year due to Covid-19, however despite these headwinds we achieved a solid set of financial results.

“It is also important to acknowledge the exceptional dedication of our people across the business who delivered a resilient performance.”

Mr Whelan said that despite challenges, Dale Farm continued to maximise the return on its farmers’ milk supply ‘through successful innovation, value added sales streams, proactive margin improvement and continuous cost control’.

“All of which will stand us in good stead and enable us to pay a market competitive milk price as we move forward,” he added. 

Looking ahead, he said the business improvements achieved during 2020/21 allowed them to ‘look with confidence into 2021/22 and beyond’. 

“As always, continuous investment in our plant and people, and maximising profitability whilst paying a market competitive milk price will be at the heart of our strategy,” Mr Whelan said.

Irwin’s Bakery has strengthened its business with Asda in a deal which will see two new lines stocked in all 16 of the retailer’s stores across Northern Ireland.

The Portadown-based baker will add two new four-pack roll products – brioche and sourdough – to Asda’s baked goods range.

Established in 1912, fourth-generation bakery Irwin’s employs more than 350 people.

“We’re really pleased to extend our business with Asda,” said John Hopkins, sales director at Irwin’s Bakery.

“As a business we take so much pride in our baking heritage and recipes, but we also recognise that consumers seek variety and new flavours from everyday products such as rolls.

“The popularity of brioche and sourdough have grown in recent years, and with our expertise we knew we could develop a quality product that customers will love – and gives a point of difference when it comes to buying products in the category.” 

Emma Swan, Asda’s buying manager for NI Local, added: “Our relationship with Irwin’s continues to grow, and it’s wonderful to see more of its products on our shelves.

“We’re proud to offer our shoppers high-quality locally-produced products, and these two additions are exactly that. We hope customers love these twists on classic rolls.”

The Pride of Northern Irelands Butter & Cheese 

Dromona is so proud of its unique local heritage and unrivalled quality that they’ve wrapped it all up in a fresh new look designed to tell the brand stories.

The new look will herald on pack what makes Dromona the most local, best quality and most delicious butter and cheese on the market.

Speaking about the reasons behind the rebrand, Sharon Campbell, Senior Brand Manager said

“Provenance has never been more important to consumers. We want to know the story behind our truly local brands, their ingredients and how they are made. So we have set out to simply share our brand truths, namely that Dromona has been only ever made in Northern Ireland since 1958, that our butter is made at our Creamery in Cullybackey and our cheese is made at our Dairy in Cookstown and both are crafted with care and tradition from the freshest, local Northern Irish milk. In short, Dromona is made here for people who live here and it does not get anymore local than that.”

Dromona cheese was delighted to pick up three accolades at the National Virtual Cheese Awards on 7^th May 2021. 

Dromona Mild Cheddar claimed 1^st place in the Creamery Mild Cheddar class with judges describing it as ‘An excellent mild cheddar, very balanced with a nice rounded finish and a perfect level of flavour’ 

In the Irish Regional Cheese class, Dromona Extra Mature cheddar claimed 1^st place with judges complimenting its rich, rounded flavour and Dromona mature Cheddar hot on its heels claiming 2^nd place

Team Dromona takes great pride in winning such awards for our cheddar which is genuinely only ever made in Northern Ireland. The awards coincide nicely with our new look cheese packaging which celebrates our great local hero

Three Food NI member companies have been shortlisted in the prestigious annual Grocer Gold Awards.

The three companies in the running for the highly influential awards run by the magazine that’s regarded as the single most important in retailing throughout the UK and Ireland are:-

Henderson Retail, Newtownabbey in the Independent Retail Chain of the Year

The Henderson Group is Northern Ireland’s biggest retail and wholesale food supplier. It is the franchise holder of EUROSPAR, SPAR and VIVO food stores.

Mash Direct, Comber in SME Brand of the Year

Mash Direct is now a major innovator and supplier of vegetable and convenience meals. It is a family business based on a family farm in Co Down. The company supplies supermarkets and other retailers across the UK, Ireland, other parts of Europe, the US and Middle East.

Moo to You, Belfast Startup of the Year.

Moo to You is a food delivery service launched by StreamvaleOpen Farm Dundonald in 2020 during the pandemic to enable people shielding at home to have access to locally sourced food. The mall business has developed into a successful service covering Northern Ireland.

The Grocer Gold Awards 2021 will be the biggest programme ever. The enhanced lineup of categoriessees more emphasis given to products and suppliers, with new awards for alcoholic drinks brands, household goods, personal care and petfood, as well as the return of Own-label and Branded Supplier of the Year competition. 

In total there are 34 awards to be won, in a lineup that aims to capture the full and diverse contribution that the grocery retail, wholesale and supply sector has made since the outbreak of the pandemic, said The Grocer’s editor, Adam Leyland. 

“No-one can be in any doubt of the value of the grocery sector to this country since April 2020 in particular. The effort has been heroic, with an extraordinary and enterprising response accompanied by some stunning performances across the sector, from the smallest community stores, to multinational fmcg giants. 

“The Gold Awards has always celebrated the industry’s greatest accomplishments. In 2021 it’s fitting that there will be awards than ever, so the celebrations can be the biggest and best ever.”

Successful Newry entrepreneur Michael McKeown is starting to reap the export benefits from a major marketing campaign in Europe for Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey, the historic brand he revived in the city in 2019. 

The small company, which has already won international recognition for the quality and outstanding taste of its single malt and blended whiskeys, has recently achieved a substantial business breakthrough in Germany.

A Food NI member, the ambitious company, which successfully revived the historic Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey brand – originally launched in 1817 – has just shipped a significant consignment of two blended products to a specialist whiskey distributor nearHamburg.

The order – D’Arcy’s biggest export success to date – follows another important agreement last month with a premium whiskey distributor in France, its first European sales. In addition, the company is also lining up distributors in the US and Canada.

Michael, a passionate Newry resident who has written extensively about the history of the area and especially its whiskey heritage, brought the business, which had closed in 1918, back to life a century later. 

Commenting on the first exports, Michael says: “These distribution deals are a tremendous boost for our whiskeys so early in the development of the revived business and our initial portfolio of products. 

“They are major milestones for us on our exciting business journey. We are immensely encouraged by the positive feedback from the new distributors about our whiskeys and look forward to supporting them in selling the products and to growing the business with them and other distributors we’ve identified,” he adds.

The deals are the first in Europe for the iconic D’Arcy’s Irish Whiskey in over a century and are the outcome of a marketing drive launched by the distillery at the end of last year. A distribution deal has also been agreed recently in Britain.

The new deals are for two of D’Arcy’s blended Irish whiskeys –the 4-year-old and the award-winning 10-year-old.

In addition to winning acclaim for its 10-year-old at major international awards, the company’s super-premium 17-year-old single malt was named Best Irish Whiskey at the influential San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2020. A new 18-year old super premium malt is in the pipeline.

The 17-year-old single malt rum cask finish was also acclaimed at the Las Vegas International Whiskey Competition and the 10-year-old blended port cask finished whiskey picked up gold and silver medals at these awards too.

The export agreements came from direct approaches to potential distributors in Europe pinpointed by its extensive market research last year. “We then contacted them and sent samples for them to experience,” Michael explains. “We followed up quickly to discuss and several agreements followed from premium whiskey specialists in Europe,” he adds.

The reintroduction of the historic Newry whiskeys had also resulted in business with hundreds of bars and off-licences outlets throughout the island of Ireland. 

The company aims to re-establish a working distillery on the original Matt D’Arcy site on Monaghan Street in the heart of Newry. The £8 million project will also include a visitor’s centre, Victorian bar and restaurant. Construction tenders are expected to be issued soon. The project will provide an attractive cross-border tourism destination at the heart of Newry.

Matt D’Arcy’s is the latest local whiskey to join Northern Ireland’s remarkable success story in distilling whiskey, gin, poitin and rum. There’s been huge international interest especially in Irish Whiskey over the past two decades particularly in the US and Canada; now the fastest growing brown spirit there. Locally distilled whiskey is now on sale in more than 30 global markets. 

While Old Bushmills in Co Antrim, which is in expansion mode, remains the outstanding industry leader, other brands such as Dunville, Kircubbin; The Sexton, Bushmills; The Quiet Man, Derry; Hinch, Ballynahinch; Two Stacks, Belfast; Mourne Dew, Warrenpoint; and Killowen, Rostrevor are developing an international profile and, more importantly, global sales. In addition, Shortcross in Crossgar, a multi-award winning leader in gin, is soon to launch a new premium malt whiskey. And there are plans to develop another craft distillery in Bushmills. Dram in a Can, the world’s first canned whiskey, was created here by Two Stacks.

D’Arcy’s export breakthrough also comes as arrangements have been finalised to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the spirit in third Belfast Whiskey Week from Friday 23^rd July toSaturday 31^st July. Ireland’s largest whiskey festival has been organised by Belfast businessman Paul Kane “to reclaim the city’s whiskey heritage, celebrate its distilling history as well as look forward to the exciting innovations and growth within the region”. 

Following Covid guidelines and restrictions, this year’s festival will provide limited in person access to a range of tasting events including a gala dinner featuring nine local whiskies at the Europa Hotel.