Kettyle Irish Foods in Northern Ireland has partnered with Guinness to launch a premium beef burger for selected retailers and hospitality outlets across Ireland and other parts of Europe.

Succulent and sustainable, the mouth-watering burger marries the very best and most flavourful cuts of beef from Kettyle Irish Foods in Lisnaskea, county Fermanagh, laced with the indisputable taste of Guinness, the world’s original and favourite stout.

The Kettyle Guinness premium beef burger is available in two, four, eight and 20 packs, both fresh and frozen.

Speaking at the launch of the new premium burger, Maurice Kettyle, the founder and managing director of Kettyle Irish Foods, said: “Our courtship with Guinness has been a lengthy one but we’ve enjoyed every step and are so delighted to be celebrating this union.

“We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Guinness.”

Kettyle Irish Foods, part of Fane Valley Group, Northern Ireland’s biggest farmers’ co-operative, is a specialist in dry-aged beef and other premium meat products. The company was established in 2004 by Mr. Kettyle, an experienced meat processor and marketer.

The Northern Irish company, now a major supplier of beef and other meats to top retailers and restaurants in many parts of Europe as well as the Middle East, has won a string of national awards, including UK Great Taste Awards, for its dry-aged steak products including those aged in the Northern Ireland company’s unique salt moss chamber.

The new premium burger is the first in a series of many combined products planned in Kettyle and Guinness.

Could you be the first-ever Tiptree Patisserie Trainee Baker 2017?

If you are an apprentice baker or studying to become a baker, this is your great chance to prove yourself at the Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Food 2017!

Tiptree Patisserie, the fast-growing baking arm of Tiptree, preserve makers in Essex by royal appointment, is sponsoring a new category especially for the young up and coming stars of the baking world.

“We are really delighted to support this category,” says Daren McGrath, Managing Director of Tiptree Patisserie. Indeed, it was McGrath who conceived the idea, on his journey back to Essex on the train after a long day’s judging at the 2016 Awards.

“At Tiptree Patisserie, we take the training of young people very seriously and I feel it’s really important the Tiptree World Bread Awards have a dedicated category to recognise the hard work and talent of that sector which sits between young enthusiasts and professional bakers.”

The Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Food are now in their fifth flour-dusted year, and there will be 100 judges making their way to Cathedral Hall, Westminster Cathedral in September to nibble, munch and debate their way through the hundreds of loaves submitted.

Entry Criteria:
2 loaves to be submitted which will be judged as a pair: one x 454g White Tin loaf and one x 454g Wholemeal Tin loaf. For the purposes of this competition, ‘Trainee’ is defined as an Apprentice Baker or a student (full or part-time) currently attending a baking course at a recognised United Kingdom bakery school or college

For more information, please contact: Sue Richmond, email: sue@thefoodawardscompany.co.uk or mobile: 07708 690707

Article written by Sam Butler

En-Place Foods, Northern Ireland’s artisan producer of culinary oils and other products, has launched a range of small batch fruit vinegars for cocktail mixologists and chefs.

The highly innovative En-Place range is based on Armagh Bramley cider vinegar with berry infusions. The novel range features Apple and Elderflower, Wild Blueberry, Elderberry, Blackberry and Hawthorn, and Rhubarb.

The fruit vinegars are available in one litre containers and distinctive 200ml bottles. While the small batch vinegars were targeted initially at foodservice, the products have been attracting business from mixologists and cocktail bars.
Paul Clarke, En-Place managing director and a leading chef, says several leading mixologists in London are already using the small batch vinegars in cocktails. “They work extremely well with gin for instance. The vinegars, in addition, can be used as ‘shrubs’ when mixed with soda or sparkling water for a very refreshing and fruity drink,” he adds.

“The high fruit content of the small batch vinegars makes them ideal for glazes and sauces as well as a dressing for salads and desserts. The rhubarb infusion, for example, works really with ice cream.

“The vinegars are also attracting interest from high-end retailers and delis in Britain because of their versatility and rich flavours. A number of chefs are also now using the infusions for their dishes,” he says.

En-Place is one of Northern Ireland’s most innovative companies operating primarily in foodservice. The small company produces a successful range of culinary oils, jams and sauces for chefs. Retail products include jams, sauces and relishes under the Moyallon brand.

The company has won a cluster of prestigious awards for innovation in both foodservice and retail. These include Ambient Product of the Year in the UK Great Taste Awards for its three-star Sea Salted Caramel with Fennel Pollen and a Top 50 Foods award for its Sea Buckthorn and Lime Jelly. Other national awards followed for its Black Garlic Moustrada and a selection of chilli infused hot honeys.

As well as production of its own multiple award winning products the team at En Place also undertakes product development work for other artisan producers and start-ups targeting the speciality food market.

Yardsman, one of Northern Ireland’s most successful craft beer brands, has launched an American Pale Ale using a range of hops sourced from US suppliers.

The Belfast-based brewery has crafted the new ale (ABV4.7%) from Amarillo, Chinook, Cascade and Mosaic hops and is avallable in 500ml bottles.

The new dry hopped beer joins Yardsman’s existing four-strong portfolio of brews that are all handcrafted and filtered using a unique technique featuring traditional Irish linen cloth.

Yardsman is the popular brand created by Niall McMullan, who founded Hercules Brewing Company in February 2014 to revive craft beer production in the city, once one of biggest brewing centres in the British Isles. Hercules was the first craft beer company to open in Belfast in more than a century. Yardsman is a recognition of the city’s engineering and manufacturing traditions of shipbuilding, linen production and rope making.

Mr McMullan brought extensive experience with international companies in alcoholic and soft beverages to Hercules, an identity that has its roots in brewing history in Belfast. The original Hercules Brewery was located on Hercules Street in the centre of the city.

“The new American Pale Ale is a light, crisp and refreshing Pale Ale beer,” says Niall McMullan. While I’ve used American hops in other beers I wanted to create a distinctive product from hops sourced exclusively from the US for a lighter and citrus flavour.

“The new APA is the outcome of research over many months to create an original recipe that will appeal to craft brewing enthusiasts here. We have been keen to develop a wide range of beers and stout to reach various market segments.

“As is the case with all our products, the new American Pale Ale is produced without any additives, preservatives, stabilisers, or chemicals. Our focus is on the finest ingredients sourced from long established suppliers. We use a strain of yeast that we’ve developed. It’s also vegan friendly.

The company’s portfolio comprises Yardsman Lager, Yardsman IPA, Yardsman Belfast Pale Ale and Yardsman Original Double Stout. The small batch beers and stout are now widely available in Northern Ireland in bars, restaurants, hotels and through off-sales.
Distribution arrangements are also in place to export the beers to US, Ireland, Britain and other parts of Europe.

The small brewery, which employs seven people, is located at the heart of Belfast’s Harbour.

Lacada Brewery, one of Northern Ireland’s leading craft brewers, has launched a new beer to celebrate a wave that draws surfers from around the world to Portrush in county Antrim, where the small business is based.

East the Beast, the new IPA from Lacada, is, according to marketing director Heather Quiery “a surfer’s wave, beloved and feared, that barrels and dredges the East Strand of Portrush from powerful north Atlantic waves”.

She describes the new ale, developed by Lacada’s head brewer Laurie Davies, as a “single malt crush under a mass of hops that breaks into a fruity IPA (6%ABV). It is available in 500ml bottles.

“It gives an aroma of mango and pineapple with a great sparkling head. There’s a nice, smooth mouthfeel before the bitterness kicks in and the citrus and fruity tastes, from Mosaic and Citra, linger on the palate for quite a while,” she adds.

The brewery, formed as a community co-operative in May 2014, has started the year with a flourish. After being rated the ‘Best New Brewery Northern Ireland 2016’ by consumer website/apps ratebeer.com the company gained a bronze medal at the Dublin Craft Beer Cup for its unique Stranded Bunny Porter.

The new beer follows the successful launch of its unique Devil’s Washtub Dark Ale that is aged d in Irish whiskey barrels. The craft brewery developed the stout in an oak barrel once used to mature a 60-year old single malt whiskey and is part of the brewery’s Salamander series of special beers.

Lacada is derived from Liach Fada which means ‘the longstone’ and refers to a rocky outcrop about 300 yards east of the world famous Giant’s Causeway in county Antrim. The names of the three-strong core range of beers are all drawn from local features. Other beers in the brewery’s core range of brews also use names from local landmarks such as The Giant’s Organ in the iconic Giant’s Causeway.

The Salamander Series, in addition, is taken from a gold, ruby encrusted salamander recovered from a Spanish Armada warship which ran aground at Lacada Point, near Portrush, in 1588.