Rademon Estate Distillery, makers of Shortcross Gin, begin production of new Irish Malt Whiskey

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The makers of the award-winning Shortcross Gin have announced plans to develop a brand new premium Irish Whiskey.

Rademon Estate Distillery, based in County Down, Northern Ireland has revealed plans to develop a new Irish Malt Whiskey. This summer, the first casks of their new small batch Irish whiskey have been sealed and production is now getting under way, with 100 barrels expected to be casked within the first year. 

This phase of the Distillery development completes a sizeable £1.5M investment to date, while the continued expansion of the Distillery over the next three years will represent a total investment of over £4M, creating up to six new jobs.

Northern Ireland’s first and only craft distillery and the producer of the multi award-winning Shortcross Gin, Rademon Estate Distillery has made a big impact in the burgeoning craft spirits market since its launch.  Founded in 2012 by husband and wife team Fiona and David Boyd-Armstrong, Rademon Estate Distillery is located at the couple’s historic family estate just outside Downpatrick, Co. Down.

To develop the new product, the company has been supported with a £50,000 grant through Invest NI’s R&D Boosting Business scheme to develop the background technology, process and skills to enable the method of production to be developed. Invest NI’s research and development support is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

Rademon Estate Distillery also plans a further investment in excess of £2.5M to put to work larger Pot Stills and associated equipment that will give the distillery a capacity of 35,000 litres of pure alcohol per annum. They hope to create a unique Visitor Experience Centre as part of this investment as the business expands over the next three years.

Fiona Boyd-Armstrong, Managing Director of Rademon Estate Distillery said: “The research and development behind the creation of our Irish Whiskey has been extensive and the valuable support from Invest NI has helped us reach this exciting stage. We are proud to announce this project and that this will be amongst the first Irish Whiskeys to be distilled in Northern Ireland.”

All aspects of production for the new Irish malt whiskey, from grain to glass, will be performed on site with no third party spirit being used.  The whiskey will be matured in a variety of casks, which the distillery hope will allow new and innovative flavours and aromas to be created and water from the estate’s own well will be used.

David Boyd-Armstrong, Head Distiller and Operations Director of Rademon Estate Distillery said: “I am thrilled we have developed what I know will be a fantastic Irish Malt Whiskey and I’m greatly looking forward to August 2018 when we will be able to sample our first three year old Irish Malt Whiskey. This style of whiskey is a personal favourite of mine due to the complex flavour profile and I feel it is under represented in the market.”

Parties interested in purchase or distribution of Rademon Estate Distillery’s first release of their Irish Malt Whiskey can register their interest by emailing sales@shortcrossgin.com. A number of casks have already been pre-ordered, with additional casks being sold over the coming months.

Over the coming months, Rademon Estate Distillery will expand their team, doubling their current workforce from four to eight employees, with at least a further two posts expected to be created in the future as the expansion of the distillery continues, bringing the total number of employees to 10.Rademon announce Irish Whiskey 4 (1) Rademon announce Irish Whiskey 3 Rademon announce Irish Whiskey 2 (1)

WILD SIKA VENISON RACK WINS GREAT TASTE GOLDEN FORK

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The Great Taste Golden Fork for the best food from Northern Ireland has been presented to Food NI member Baronscourt Estate in Tyrone for its Wild Sika Venison French Rack.

Baronscourt Estate was highly commended for this rich, perfectly gamey and “buttery” venison rack, as the judges were seduced by its “toasty, wild, hay and offal” notes on the palate and the meat’s long lasting “refined” flavour.

Out of 10,000 products entered into Great Taste 2015, the Wild Sika Venison was celebrated as the best tasting product in its region at the Great Taste Golden Forks Dinner held on Monday 7th September at The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, where over 300 guests from the world of fine food gathered to hear the results of many months of rigorous judging.

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CANCER FUND FOR CHILDREN’S DAISY LODGE HAS THE TASTE OF ULSTER

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The partnership between Cancer Fund for Children’s Daisy Lodge and Taste of Ulster is nothing short of delicious.

The facility which is situated at the foothills of the Mourne Mountains in Newcastle, Co. Down, opened in April 2014. It has now provided more than 500 families from across the island of Ireland with a free therapeutic short break. This break enables families to spend precious time together away from the pressure of hospital visits and treatment.

The delicious and nutritious menu on offer at the facility was devised by Hospitality Manager Joan Burden along with top chef Joery Castel as well as Taste of Ulster and Vital Nutrition’s Jane McClenaghan.

The combination of Jane’s expert nutritional advice and Joery’s practical knowledge has resulted in families leaving Daisy Lodge with glowing reports about the food they enjoyed there.

The meals all use fresh locally-sourced ingredients from Northern Ireland producers such as Jilly Dougan who recently planted a beautiful herb garden at Daisy Lodge. We use it to freshly pick a range of herbs and salads for our dishes.

Cancer Fund for Children continues to enjoy great support from Yellow Door who supplies fresh bread for the families at Daisy Lodge. Moy Park supplies fresh chickens and Finnebrogue supplies the charity with an amazing array of fresh meat products free of charge.

Joan explained why healthy meals are so important for families dealing with the effects of cancer.

“Many of the families have spent months in isolation or on the ward and have been living on hospital food. When they are at home they probably don’t have the time or energy to prepare cooked meals. When families arrive at Daisy Lodge all they have to do is relax and enjoy these delicious and nutritious meals…restoring them for whatever lies ahead.”

Belfast mother, Emma McCrea whose little son Charlie has battled cancer, praised the food at Daisy Lodge: “The food was amazing. It will be especially appreciated by families who have been living on tea and toast or hospital food. It was great not having to clean and cook.”

The menu boasts such delights dishes like Trio of Finnebrogue Sausages on a Buttery Mourne Champ and Roast Red Onion Gravy. Moy Park Chicken Tournedo on Julienne of Carrot and French bean, fondant potato and a white wine cream. The menus are refreshed every six weeks.

The Daisy Lodge hospitality team recently successfully catered for a fundraising night at the facility hosted by top golfer Rory McIlroy and The Rory Foundation which has donated over £1m to help with the running costs of the centre. The team didn’t disappoint, serving up a range of mouth-watering canapés that included Charred Strangford Lough Prawns with Wasabi and Soy Bubbles, Organic Glenarm Oxtail Rouleaux and charred Celeriac and Rockvale Chicken, Strangford Lough Lobster and Mushroom Sausage Rolls.

Sharon Machala, Taste of Ulster Coordinator said

“We are delighted to have been able to help Joan and the team, in achieving their goal of providing nutritious locally sourced food to the families staying at Daisy Lodge.”

“We have received amazing feedback from families about the quality of the meals here at Daisy Lodge. I am so glad Taste of Ulster, Joery and Jane are on-board, they have enthused and energised the team” said Joan Burden.

BITE TO SAVOUR

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After much anticipation BitetoSavour’s 2015 Autumn Box has now been shipped… horray!
Packed full of autumnal treats to ease you into the cooler months this is a food box is not to be missed… the best part is, it’s all made here in Northern Ireland by our talented artisan producers!
For more information or to get your hands on our one off Autumn box click HERE or if you want to discover new artisanNI products throughout the year sign up to our seasonal subscription HEREAutumn Box 1 copy Autumn box 2 copy

More Awards For OX Belfast

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OX adds more wins to the summer’s haul with prestigious Editors’ Award as Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide and 3 major awards at Food & Wine Awards!

It has been a fantastic summer for the team at OX who won the Best Menu award at the 32nd Catey Awards in July, the hospitality industry’s answer to the Oscars. The team followed this with the prestigious Editors’ Award for Restaurant of the Year as decided by the editors of the 2016 Good Food Guide, annual UK awards which recognise restaurants and chefs who have shown excellence in their field.

Finally, last weekend at the Food & Wine Awards in Dublin, the awards came thick and fast, with Best Restaurant in Ulster for OX, and Stephen Toman winning Best Chef in Ulster as well as the overall award of Chef of the Year. The restaurant was also highly commended for Best Wine Experience and Restaurant of the Year.

“Winning Best Menu at the Cateys was fantastic,” said chef and co-owner Stephen Toman, “as everything at OX begins with the menu. Since opening in April 2013, taking a risk on a new kind of dining for Belfast has really paid off for us, and this kind of recognition for our menu, from our peers and colleagues in the industry, has been really rewarding.

Following this with the Editors’ Award for Restaurant of the Year 2016 from the Good Food Guide was a huge honour for our team and especially coming so quickly after winning the Best Menu at the Cateys. The competition in the UK for both is enormous so it’s a great win for Belfast and another nod to the great people and local producers we love to work with.

Finally winning the three awards at this year’s Food & Wine Awards at the weekend – Best Chef in Ulster, Best Restaurant in Ulster and Chef of the Year – as well as being highly commended in the other categories, just proves my point about OX being a team effort. An award for one of us is an award for all of us, and I couldn’t be more proud of all the hard work everyone has put in to make OX so well regarded.”

Organised by The Caterer magazine, the UK hospitality industry’s leading source of information for over 135 years, since their inception in 1984 the Cateys have become a byword for quality, class and achievement, the awards that everybody wants to win. This year’s Best Menu award-winner OX always has a fascinating menu, described by one of the judges, Clare Smyth MBE, Northern Ireland’s only 3-star Michelin chef and chef-patron of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay as “Very exciting!” going on to say “It’s fantastic to see a restaurant in Northern Ireland of this calibre. This is a young chef pushing the boundaries and using the wealth of produce the region has offer.”

The Good Food Guide celebrates Britain’s best restaurants and the top entries and award-winners in the 2016 Good Food Guide were announced at the launch of its 65th anniversary issue in August, with Belfast restaurant OX winning the prestigious Editors’ Award for Restaurant of the Year.

On the significant win, Alain Kerloc’h, co-owner of OX said “Our team is completely humbled by winning the Editors’ Award for Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide this year. It is not just fantastic for OX but great for Belfast and Northern Ireland too.”

The Food & Wine Magazine Restaurant of the Year Awards, now in its 15th year, are considered the most prestigious and authoritative culinary awards in the Irish calendar. Recognising the best Irish restaurants and culinary talent, diners from all over Ireland were invited to nominate their favourite restaurants and chefs, with the top entries going forward for deliberation by a national culinary panel of judges, made up of industry experts and national food critics. This is the third year in a row that chef Stephen Toman has won Best Chef in Ulster at these awards, and the second year running that OX has taken the Best Restaurant in Ulster title. This is Stephen’s first time winning Chef of the Year.

Co-owners Stephen and Alain each have a background in formal dining, with complex and sophisticated menus and high levels of service. With OX (and their gorgeous, honey-toned wine bar right next door in OX Cave), their aim is to provide the same quality of food and attentive service, along with a focus on dining with seasonal creativity, but in a relaxed, simple and welcoming environment.
OX is enterprising, ambitious and inventive, and is now the winner of the Best Menu of the Year at the Cateys, Editors’ Award as Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide in the UK, and Best Restaurant in Ulster, Best Chef in Ulster and Chef of the Year at the Food & Wine Awards!

https://www.nigoodfood.com/member/ox-belfast/