Two vodka products have been distilled and launched by Mourne Dew craft distillery in Northern Ireland, using water sourced from the iconic Mountains of Mourne.

The new products are a Premium Irish Vodka and a unique Wild Mourne Rose Irish Vodka. Both have been distilled six times using the small distillery’s vacuum distillation process for smoother and stronger flavours and have 40 percent ABV.

The new vodkas come as Mourne Dew gained a series of medals for quality at the prestigious London Spirits Competition. The craft distillery picked up silver medals for its two single malt and blended Irish whiskeys, its Kilbroney Gin and Hazelnut Poitin.

They join an existing portfolio of multi-award winning Irish whiskeys, gins and traditional Irish poitins developed by the craft distillery which is based at Warrenpoint in county Down. 

The company is enjoying success in international markets such as France and Germany with its ever expanding product range and is just about to enter the spirits market in the US.

Donal Farrell, the founder and Master Distiller of Mourne Dew, says the new vodkas are the outcome of research over many years to develop premium and richly flavoured spirits from a low temperature distillation process that’s unique in Ireland.

“Our work on the vodkas began before the coronavirus pandemic and was paused for a period due to the lockdowns,” Donal explains. “We completed the vodka recipes earlier in the year and have now launched them. They’ve been influenced by our research into flavour blends from botanicals and vacuum distillation over the past six years. 

“The new Wild Mourne Rose Irish Vodka is another example of this research and is based on wild rose petals sourced from the Mourne Mountains. Our distillation process protects the delicate flavours of botanicals and our plan is to use much of this research in further innovative products which are in the pipeline.” Donal believes the rich and smooth flavour of the Wild Mourne Rose Irish Vodka could have exciting export potential.

“Another important feature of our vodkas is the smooth, soft water sourced from the high Mournes which provides a distinctively fresh and natural taste,” says Donal. “We draw many of our ingredients and inspiration from our setting at the foothills of the Mournes overlooking Carlingford Lough,” he adds.

Mourne Dew has employed an ethnobotanist to scour the mountains, foraging local botanicals. This has enabled the company to build up a library of very special tinctures using the low temperature, vacuum distillation process to gently extract the flavours from the delicate flora.

The new vodkas are now being distributed throughout the UK and the island of Ireland. See the mournedew.com for details of distributors and retailers.

Products from two Food NI member companies have been shortlisted in the influential Scottish Retail Food Awards which recognise and reward outstanding branded and own label products.

The Food NI member companies in the running for major awards in this important UK regional competition are:

Thompson’s Family Tea in Belfast in Teas and Tissanes for its Scottish Blend, a tea crafted specially for this market; and

Wilson’s Country, Portadown, county Armagh in Ready Meals and Accompaniments for You Say Potato Fresh Cut Chips.

Other Northern Ireland companies shortlisted are Big Pot, Cookstown, county Tyrone in the Plant Based category for two original soups – Sweet Potato, Red Lentil and Spinach, and Butternut Squash and Chipotle Bean; and McColgan’s Quality Foods, Strabane, county Tyrone in Quiches, Pasties and Pies for two products – Goat’s Cheese and Carmelised Red Onion Quiche, and Pork and Cranberry Sausage Rolls;

The products shortlisted reflect the importance of the Scottish market to Northern Ireland food producers.  Invest NI, the Northern Ireland business development agency, is among the high profile sponsors of the awards which are organised by a separate company with sponsorship from major manufacturers and other bodies.

The Scottish Retail Food & Drink Awards are open to products available for sale in Scottish retail outlets, from the smallest farm shop or deli through Scotland’s 5,000 convenience and symbol stores to the largest supermarkets and discounters.

Scotland’s food and drink industry is worth around £14 billion a year and is one of the most significant contributors to Scotland’s economy. The impact ofcoronavirus has served only to highlight the vital importance of the industry

The industry accounts for one in five manufacturing jobs with more than 18,850 food and drink businesses operating in Scotland, employing more than 115,400 people.

Food and Drink has been identified by the Scottish Government as a key growth sector in its Economic Strategy.

McCrackens Real Ale, an award-winning Northern Irelandcraft brewery, has won its first export business in Italy.

Based in Portadown, county Armagh, the family-owned and managed brewery secured the important export sales for its extensive portfolio of beers following a direct approach from a leading distributor in Milan.

Ryan McCracken, the founder and managing director of the business, explains: “At the end of January, the Italian distributor reached out to us through social media, where I later discovered he had come across our range of Irish craft beers. 

“The distributor liked our beers and was impressed by our position as a traditional, independent, family-run brewery which produces quality and award-winning beers in relatively small batches,” Mr McCracken adds.

The distributor, he continues, had been sourcing beers through similar breweries in Britain but found supply threatened bythe country’s withdrawal from the EU and decided to look for an alternative supplier in Northern Ireland, a part of the UK remaining within the European community.

Mr McCracken adds: “We quickly discovered that we were a right fit for each other and after some further discussions around our range we received a confirmed initial order for a couple of pallets. 

“The export business is a real boost for the business at a time when many of our outlets in bars, restaurants and hotels have been shut due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

“We had previously developed a new Irish stout, “McCrackens Black” and had been planning on introducing it later in the year. It was good timing as the distributor loved the idea and we ended up bringing our plans for forward a few months.  The distributor embraced our Irish beers in our range and has ordered decided to our IPA – Irish Pale Ale, Red – Irish Red Ale, Black – Irish Stout and Gold – Pale Ale,” he adds.

The Irish craft beers will be distributed to a network of outlets especially in northern Italy from Milan.

McCrackens Real Ales has won several UK awards for outstanding taste and has also supplied customers in Great Britain by means of social media in particular.

Mr McCracken set up the craft distillery and developed the range of bottle-conditioned beers using his own recipes in September 2018. He had started brewing as a hobby in 2014 and continues as the brewery’s main brewer.

Boatyard Distillery in Northern Ireland has won gold and silver awards for two products in the annual Bartenders’ Brand Awards.

The craft distillery, which is based near Enniskillen in county Fermanagh, won gold for its vodka and silver for its double distilled gin in the awards which are a unique blind tasting, design and value-tested competition for spirits, wines, beers and drinks products available within the UK bar industry. 

Joe McGirr, Boatyard founder and master distiller, which is based in a converted boat house overlooking picturesque Lough Erne in Northern Ireland’s lakelands, says: “We are thrilled to have achieved this important recognition from bartenders in Britain, a key market for us as we seek to grow our business especially outside Northern Ireland. 

“These awards are immensely important because they are purely focused on the on-trade and are open to drinks brands that are available in UK cocktail, hotel and restaurant bars,” he adds.

Now in their fourth year, the event aims to provide independent and honest reviews for drinks brands targeting the UK bar trade. The results are a relevant and practical source of reference for bartenders, bar managers, bar owners and professionals when making purchasing decisions for their establishments.

The judging panel boasts some of the most renowned names in the UK bar industry today, giving winning spirits, wine, beer and drinks products an endorsement from the most influential people in the global drinks industry.

Boatyard vodka was the first ‘seed to sip’ wheat vodka in Ireland, made using organic Irish wheat from county Kildare in the Republic of Ireland.

The Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) are working in collaboration with the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), to celebrate Northern Ireland’s world class beef this NI Beef Week. This year the weeklong event, running from 23^rd to 30th April will focus on how Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured (NIFQA) beef is farmed with the environment in mind, and is naturally nutritious. 

LMC chief executive Ian Stevenson commented, “We are once again proud to be leading the way through the Northern Ireland Beef week initiative, which provides a great opportunity to showcase our responsibly produced, nutritious, world class beef. As the Northern Ireland beef and lamb industry’s promotional body LMC is constantly looking at trends in the marketplace at home and abroad so that we can understand what is driving consumer behaviour and the choices they make when they are shopping for meal solutions. There is no doubt in our minds that Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured Beef is truly world class, and our planned activity during beef week works hard to promote the very positive story we have to tell.

Our activity during beef week will use the sensory experience that comes with cooking and eating high quality beef as a tool to engage consumers in the positive story that the beef industry has to tell in addressing global challenges such as climate change and meeting the nutritional needs of a growing population.”

Ian commented on how NIFQA beef farmers are contributing to an environmentally progressive industry; “Northern Irish beef farmers continue to farm regeneratively, improving grasslands, planting hedgerows and trees which provide a habitat for many small animals as well as storing significant amounts of carbon in grasslands. This is why we are in the perfect climate to produce our world class, grass fed beef, which in return gives consumers a local product which is naturally rich in macro and micro nutrients which we will be highlighting during beef week.”

Beef Week 2021 takes place from the 23^rd to 30^th April. Promotional activities have had to become virtually based to comply with Covid-19 guidelines. However, this has not hindered plans as LMC are undertaking a series of activity throughout the week in collaboration with Belfast live and U105, alongside local chef and ‘Truth About Beef’ presenter, James Devine.  LMC will deliver a social media campaign across both their LMC, and Beef and Lamb NI Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, reaching a wide demographic of consumers.

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) are planning to work alongside social media influencer ‘Dish You Were Here’, to promote NIFQA beef. Dish You Were Here run a very successful food blogging page on Instagram with over 36,000 followers. They will demonstrate how to cook a beef dish using NIFQA beef while informing their followers of the benefits of the beef industry to the environment and why they should always look for the NIFQA logo. The UFU will also run a social media campaign through their own Facebook, Twitter and newly founded Instagram account promoting the benefits of eating NIFQA beef on the environment through images and videos.

UFU deputy president William Irvine said, “We are delighted to be collaborating with LMC for Beef Week 2021. It’s such an important initiative providing a much-needed opportunity to focus on our high-quality, versatile NIFQA beef, produced to world leading environmental and animal welfare standards.

“With climate change being at the top of everyone’s agenda and following the recent support given by several of our local political parties regarding proposals to legislate for net zero by 2045 in NI- which could wipe out half of our livestock farmers just to meet a legislative target that does not seem to have any scientific basis – its important now more than ever to showcase the magnitude and sustainability of local beef farming in NI. From our extensive grass-fed systems to the key role our beef farmers have in tackling climate change and caring for the environment and wildlife. The beef sector is a major driving force within agriculture, one of our most successful industries and we will be working to promote its significant contributions to NI in entirety, throughout beef week.”