Matt D’arcy’s, the Newry-based whiskey company, has published a new book “Matt D’Arcy’s & Old Newry Whiskies”, detailing the long history of distilling and blending in the city, and introduced a new Irish whiskey“Old Newry’ to mark the occasion.

The company is developing a distillery in Newry and has also range of range of premium whiskeys.

Company chairman Michael McKeown has authored the book and has completed a detailed study of the various companies that called Newry home and that made the Irish city famous throughout the world in the 18th and 19thcenturies.

Mr McKeown has also uncovered records dating back to the 12th Century wherein Maurice McLoughlin, the High King of Ireland, granted a Royal Charter to the local Cistercian Order of Monks giving them ownership of the mills in the area and access to the mash needed to distil spirits.

This claim of a long history of Newry Whiskey distilling is further supported by records in Nicolas Bagenal rent rolls of 1575, where the most valuable property in the Abbey of Newry was recorded as the “Queen’s Backhouse and Brewhouse”.

The book details the establishment of the Victorian distilling enterprise, Matt D’Arcy & Company, the history of its founder and subsequent chairmen, and the many business and philanthropic endeavours they undertook that helped shape the city to this day.

A further exploration of the other companies that helped to build a rich heritage of whiskey production over the centuries is also included, such as Henry Thomson & Co. and Duncan, Alderdice & Co.

Matt D’Arcy’s have launched a new whiskey to celebrate the publishing of this historical record.  Named “Old Newry” with the tagline “Since 1144 and before”, this whiskey pays homage to the long history of blending and bonding Irish whiskey in the city of Newry.

 

Erne Larder Preserves, an artisan producer of sauces, relishes and jams in Northern Ireland, has won its first export business in the US.

The new deal will see Erne Larder’s popular products featuring in hampers being distributed by a recently launched New York-based food business.

Erne Larder, based in Enniskillen, county Fermanagh, has recently shipped its successful Irish gin and cranberry relish, Irish bacon ketchup and Irish stout onion jam to Over The’Eire for inclusion in its Christmas hampers for customers across the US.

Declan O’Donoghue, the managing director of Erne Larder, says the business followed a contact from Steph McCrory, one of the founders of the New York food business. “Steph, who is originally from Enniskillen, had been told about my products by a friend from Ireland. She checked our website and decided on our unique Irish gin and cranberry relish would be perfect for their Christmas hampers and also ordered our Irish stout and onion chutney, and Irish bacon ketchup.

“She then placed an order for the products. We are delighted to win this breakthrough business which will add a bit of a ‘kick’ to Christmas meals around the US, a market we’ve be keen to penetrate for some time. There’s the prospect of further business there for the relish and our other artisan products especially our very successful Irish bacon jam,” adds Declan, an experienced chef who has won widespread acclaim for the original recipe products.

The small company has already won significant sales in Britain and the Republic of Ireland for its range of premium quality products. Erne has a strong base in Northern Ireland and is already supplying most delis and artisan food shops as well as leading retail chains such as Eurospar. It has also supplied both Aldi Ireland and Lidl.

Mr O’Donoghue established Erne Larder in 2017 on the back of a successful career that included creating original sauces for meals in hotels and restaurants across the island of Ireland and in Scotland over 20 years. His original product was a unique smoked Irish bacon ketchup which was quickly followed by the Irish bacon jam.

The successful smoked bacon jam followed approaches from hotel chefs for such a product for use in dishes and with cheese.  ”I’ve always been interested in making my own food products and decided to start with a range of unusual jams and chutneys,” he adds.

A key element in his approach is a focus on locally-sourced ingredients. “There are so many excellent products available across Northern Ireland that can be used to create innovative and tasty products,” he adds.

Sail into Christmas by visiting Titanic Hotel Belfast to marvel at the only life-sized Gingerbread House in a hotel in Northern Ireland and chill out with a Christmas cocktail while enjoying a festive feast in the Wolff Grill.

If you are dreading the fuss of being joyful and merry while cooking the Christmas lunch on Christmas Day, let Titanic Hotel Belfast do all the prep for you in advance. Relax and enjoy time with your family after decorating the tree with baubles knowing that your only task is serving your guests with an exquisitely prepared festive feast by award winning chefs of the Wolff Grill.

The five course Christmas Day Lunch To Go will be available for collection on Christmas Eve and the sumptuous menu includes canapes, traditional starters, a choice of main courses, a delicious dessert and a selection of cheeses to finish.

Adrian McNally, General Manager, Titanic Hotel Belfast, said: “We are open for lunch on Christmas Day and the restaurant is fully booked so rather than exclude those who simply couldn’t get a reservation or those who would prefer to entertain their Christmas guests at home this year, we decided to create our Christmas Day Lunch To Go menu. The last thing we want is to end 2020 with disappointed diners on Christmas Day, so those who can’t dine in the Wolff Grill can experience our award-winning food in the comfort of their own homes.”

The chefs at Titanic Hotel Belfast have every confidence that no matter what level your standard of cooking might be, you will be able to reheat your lunch and impress your guests while retaining the all important unique and award winning Titanic Hotel Belfast flavour.

Christmas Day Lunch to Go is served with luxury Christmas crackers and is priced at £99.00 per couple including a 20cl bottle of Prosecco or at £190.00 for four with a 75cl bottle of Prosecco.

Christmas Day Lunch to Go will be available for collection on Christmas Eve. To book your Christmas Day Lunch to Go contact christmas@titanichotelbelfast.com.

The Wolff Grill restaurant at Titanic Hotel Belfast was awarded ‘Irish Hotel Restaurant of the Year’ and ‘Ulster Hotel Restaurant of the Year’ 2020.

With a stylish and innovative interior boasting an Art Deco nautical theme, Titanic Hotel Belfast opened in 2017 and was named ‘Northern Ireland’s Leading Hotel’ by the World Travel Awards for the third year in a row. It also received the ‘Great Place to Stay Quality Award’ 2020.

Deck the halls and adorn your table with Nigel’s Exquisite, Limited Edition, Luxury Mince Pies from Genesis Bakery this Christmas Day. Part of the Afters range, these four pack mince pies are perfect for after your Christmas Day Lunch and have been created from exquisite ingredients by Nigel Lennox, Genesis Master Baker.

The personal sized mince pies are just the right size for enjoying after tucking into the turkey and have been created containing unique juicy mince with plump sultanas, apples, cranberries and cherries, fragranced with orange and lemon and encased in delicate crumbly pastry which is topped with buttercream with a hint of brandy so you have nothing to do except serve them on a festive plate.

JP Lyttle, commercial director at Genesis Bakery said: “Who doesn’t love to indulge in a mince pie at Christmas? At Genesis we have combined the exquisite ingredients that our Master Baker Nigel sources for the mince pies we produce for luxury retail brands from all over the world to blend the best ingredients for our own limited edition Afters mince pies. Each limited edition mince pie is topped with just the right amount of buttercream but the question is, can you stop at one? I can’t reveal Nigel’s secret recipe but I can reveal that these limited edition mince pies are truly exquisite and will give you a taste of the very definition of Christmas.”

Impress your guests this Christmas Day with Nigel’s Exquisite Limited Edition Luxury Mince Pies which are joining the Genesis Afters range, successfully launched in October. The festive range also includes a nine pack of Afters festive cupcakes and a two pack ‘thank you’ box of reindeer cupcakes.

The special Christmas ranges are available in nearly 500 SPAR, VIVO, Centra, Supervalu and Mace stores across Northern Ireland.

Leading meat wholesaler Jason Hamilton readily admits his decision to invest in an extensive food hall as part of a new factory near Lisburn in Co Antrim has proved “an outstanding success”.

The new shop – established ahead of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic – was a significant investment by Carnbrooke Meats, the successful meat processing business Jason founded and runs with wife Jacqueline, whose background is in veterinary medicine. Jason started the processing business in Dromara in 2011 on the back of his knowledge and experience as a butcher, small farmer and in meat sales.

“The new shop, which is located on Ballynahinch Road, specialises in our meats, ready meals prepared by our team of chefs and other grocery items including foods from local artisan suppliers such as dairy from Draynes Farm in Lisburn. It’s doing extremely well with shoppers from the area, other parts of Northern Ireland, and even from the Republic of Ireland,” says Jason.

Shoppers, he continues, have been stocking up on Carnbrooke’s range of premium meat pies in particularbecause of the quality of the ingredients and outstanding taste. “Shoppers know that the pies are made entirely by us with our meats without any fillers,” he says. “We can stand over the provenance and traceability of our all meats and meals as well as products in the shop sourced from local suppliers we know and trust,” he adds.

Carnbrooke Meats has a longstanding reputation for quality and tasty meats supplied to the hospitality sector hereincluding top hotels and high-end restaurants; success which led Jason and Jacqueline to move from Dromara to the much larger premises in Lisburn. “We always had a shop at Dromara but proved too small because of the growth in demand from shoppers for the meats they had enjoyed in the hospitality outlets,” he explains.

The switch to the extensive site in Lisburn, part of which was once a car showroom, enabled Jason to develop a much larger processing plant of 8,000 sq ft and to create the 3,000 sq ft food hall. There’s also an in-store kitchen for the preparation of Carnbrooke branded ready meals. Another feature of the complex is a Himalayan salt chamber for dry-aged meat. The whole development represents an investment of almost £2 million and employs over 50 people with additional jobs in the pipeline.

The move coincided with the first coronavirus lockdown which impacted adversely on Carnbrooke’s successful foodservice business. “The lockdown, of course, was a severe blow coming just after we had invested in the new expanded operation”, Jason says.

“Fortunately, the food hall was up and running and is helpingoffset the setback in hospitality of two lockdowns over the past eight months. It now accounts for around 50 percent of our business.

“I really feel for everyone in hospitality. It’s been a terribletime for them. I talk to our customers in the sector regularly and really do hope they’ll be able to open their doors soon. I also know that they’ve all spent a lot of money on making their premises as safe as they can be for customers and staff,” he adds.

He reckons it will be some considerable time before hospitality fully recovers from the lockdowns. “It’ll be a while before our tourism industry, for instance, gets moving again. The hospitality industry was going really well last year and looking forward to continuing growth in visitors from abroad towards the end of last year.

“There were hopes that 2020 could see records broken again in terms of overseas visitors. These hopes were dashed by the virus from last April. It looks as likely that the industry will have to depend on staycationers for much of next year,” he adds.

The provenance and quality of the food hall’s range of foods are proving extremely popular with shoppers, which, according to national surveys, are increasingly opting for local food and speciality grocers.

“We’re certainly extremely busy throughout the week and especially at the weekend,” Jason says. “As a result, our retail sales have grown to 50 percent of our business at this immensely challenging time. “We’re now seen as a one-stop shop for people seeking exceptional food and especially premium meats –beef, bacon, pork, lamb and poultry –  and fish, all of which are sourced locally. There’s also a comprehensive selection of local artisan products,” he adds.

Teams of Master Butchers cut every order to each customer’s exact specification. Experienced chefs prepare established dishes and meats and also come up regularly with new meal ideas.

The line-up of meats includes Mourne Lamb which he sends to the Michelin-starred OX and to the Deane’s restaurant group. “Our pork is reared by John Ferguson of Dromara in Co. Down. Kenneth Moffitt provides Thornhill ducks and Finnebrogue, near Downpatrick, the venison.”

Carnbrooke has also responded to the lockdowns by providing home deliveries – up to 150 a day – using its own fleet of refrigerated vans. Boxes of products required by customers, in addition, are sent to callers here and across Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

Distinguished chef Simon Dougan has pivoted the Yellow Door retail side of his well-known business to create a unique indoor market deli featuring his own dishes and hundreds of products from dozens of local food and soft drink suppliers.

The highly regarded chef, renowned for creative dishes using mostly local ingredients, has seen his hugely successful catering business for major corporate clients and events such as weddings as well as the popular café and deli in Portadown, which all trade under the Yellow Door brand, badly hit by the lockdowns.

Simon’s catering expertise, management skills and dedicated support for the local food and drink industry, which includes enthusiastic backing for Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon’s imaginative Food Heartland scheme for local food and drink, as well as Food NI, wasrecognised by an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2017.

Another important element in the business is a craft bakery supplying hotels, restaurants and coffee shops here and the Republic of Ireland has also been hit by the pandemic. As a result, turnover has fallen.

Simon says: “Like everyone in events and hospitality our business has been decimated and it has been exhausting rethinking and reinventing our operation with each new lockdown. It would be easy to crumble under such consistent pressure, but it’s also a time to be grateful for our strengths,” he says.

These strengths, he continues, include “an amazing team of people and we are thankful to be able to support them through the furlough scheme”. “We have very supportive customers and clients. Fortunately, we are in a solid position financially and our business has a strong sustainable ethos which we have been working on for many years. We have also had a record amount of hamper orders this year, as companies decide to support local. In turn this helps us support our network of artisan producers,” he adds.

Building on these strengths and underlying optimism, the popular Yellow Door Deli and Café in Portadown has undergone a refurbishment and reorganisation over the last number of weeks and has now been rebranded as ‘Deli Market by Yellow Door’. It reopened its doors to shoppers last Friday.

Simon explains: “Our deli model and physical structure wasn’t that adaptable in terms of flow or offering take-away so we had a rethink. To help future-proof the business, we have removed more of the tables and chairs in the middle part of the café to create greater retail space. We’ve implemented social distancing and other measures, of course, to ensure the safety of customers and employees, a priority for our business.

“As well as our usual offering of artisan food products, we have expanded this range to include a greater range of new suppliers and are selling fresh, local fruit and seasonal vegetables.

“Our head chef Stephen Dowds and the kitchen team have designed a range of pre-packed chilled take home food such as the family pies and the soups we are famous for, Thai curry and calorie counted dishes. Everything is made fresh from scratch as has always been the case with us,” explains Simon.

The impressive selection also includes salad leaves, fruit and herbs from the company’s own kitchen garden as they become available in season. The market garden providing the fresh veggies has been developed by Jilly, Simon’s wife. “And as we make everything in-house, we will be able to use un-sold fresh produce in our dishes so that we don’t have any waste.

“There are free range eggs, local cheeses and charcuterie, and our own sweet cured traditional dry-cured bacon for customers to enjoy at home. We have also developed and expanded our range of desserts and puddings as well as new flavoured sourdough breads from our own Real Bread bakery,” he says.

The company’s longstanding focus on sustainability isalso seen in all of its packaging being 100 percent compostable or recyclable. “Combined with our overall environmental and food sourcing policies we believe we are one of the most sustainable companies out there,” he adds.

Why invest in hospitality after such a difficult period and an uncertain short-term future for the country? “We think it is right to show our confidence in the future of our business and the wider economy in Portadown and beyond.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear from research that people here want to have alternative shopping experiences and are now keen to buy more from trusted local suppliers. We are confident that our new, rustic botanical theme and enhanced range of local dishes and products available in the deli market will appeal to even more shoppers,” says Simon.