It’s celebrations all round at The Brewer’s House which has been named as Ireland’s Best Gastropub at the prestigious Irish Restaurant Awards. The Awards recognise achievement and excellence in the Restaurant and Hospitality Industry throughout Ireland and celebrate all aspects of the Industry from Chefs and Restaurants, Cafes and Gastropubs, to Food Producers, Local Food Heroes and Cookery Schools.  Almost 800 restaurateurs and industry players attended Ireland’s biggest ever restaurant awards at which regional and all-Ireland winners were announced.

Set in The picturesque village of Donaghmore in County Tyrone, The Brewer’s House opned it’s doors in September 2011 offering a warm and comfortable atmosphere to enjoy excellently prepared dishes using locally sourced seasonal produce that display innovative recipes and techniques while still affording the guest a sense of welcoming familiarity.  We locally source all our ingredients where possible, even growing most of our own herbs as well as some fruit and vegetables in our kitchen garden.

‘It is a huge achievement to be named Best Gastropub in the country, less than two years after opening and recognises the passion and hard work of the entire team at The Brewer’s House” commented owner and manager Vicki McCausland.  The All-Ireland award comes only one week after The Brewer’s House received “The Taste of Northern Ireland” award at The Northern Irish Tourist Board awards.

The Brewer’s House is going from strength to strength and the second half of 2013 promises to be just as exciting as the first with plans to launch it’s own microbrewery, The Red Hand Brewing Company on schedule for November.

The Story Behind…

Ciaran and Vicki McCausland never imagined being back in Northern Ireland running a Gastropub. Ciaran and Vicki met 10 years ago while working together in the stock markets at the ill-fated Lehman Brothers. The collapse of Lehman, the ensuing financial crisis and a baby on the way all pointed to a move home to Ciaran’s home village of Donaghmore.

The Brewer’s House was built over 200 years ago by the local Brewer (hence the name). Ciaran’s father was born in this very house. It has been refurbished by the pair who wanted to combine the atmosphere of a local pub with the quality of a top restaurant.

Head Chef, Brian McMonagle said “I am extremely proud to help bring this national award to Donaghmore, I feel lucky to have such a strong team in place and look forward to further success at The Brewer’s House. Donegal man, Brian brought a wealth of experience to The Brewer’s House, following a very successful period as head chef at one of Ireland’s best seafood restaurants, O’Grady’s on the Pier in Galway. Brian has a passion for seafood and you can find daily seafood specials. He has a clear approach to food: to find the best, freshest ingredients and to create great tasting, simple dishes where the quality of the produce speaks for itself.

VION Cookstown, now known as KARRO, has been named as Tesco Outstanding Supplier of the Month for May 2013.

 

The award is in recognition of the enormous effort made by the company to partner with Tesco Northern Ireland as it worked towards the goal of using 100% local pork.

In early April, with the help of KARRO and two other local processors of beef and chicken, Tesco achieved its goal.  Now all of the Tesco fresh pre-packed beef, pork and chicken is sourced from local farmers and producers.

Caoimhe Mannion, Marketing Manager Tesco NI said, “We have introduced an Outstanding Supplier of the Month award, through which we can publicly celebrate and recognise the enormous effort our Northern Ireland suppliers put in for our customers.

“This award is particularly significant because it has taken some six months of planning to reach this point.  In November last year, we set out to switch all our beef, pork and chicken supply over to Northern Ireland produce.  After months of preparation and working closely with almost 120 local pig farmers, KARRO were able to deliver on this plan in early April.  Thanks to their dedication and hard work, all Tesco brand pre-packed pork chops, bacon and pork roasting joints in stores across Northern Ireland are now 100% local.  This is great news for our customers and great news for the local farming industry.”

Trevor Mounstephen of KARRO said, “We are delighted to have been given this public recognition by Tesco.  The pork industry in Northern Ireland has been through some challenging times and yet it has so much to be proud of, in terms of quality and farming.  We have welcomed the challenge of ensuring a steady supply of quality local pork for all Tesco NI stores.  This is a huge statement of the Tesco confidence in, and commitment to the local farming industry.”

Cliff Kells, Commercial Manager, Tesco said, “Local suppliers are tremendously important to Tesco in Northern Ireland.  We want our suppliers to know that their hard work is important to us and we want our customers to know all about it too. Huge congratulations to KARRO – they have given 100% service and have helped us to deliver our 100% local meat promise.  They are a very deserving winner of our Tesco Northern Ireland Outstanding Supplier Award.”

Monthly award winners receive a Bridgestone-style plaque , free publicity in local press, and point of sale promotion in all Tesco stores which stock their product.

This is a further extension of the Tesco Taste Northern Ireland campaign, aimed at educating customers and connecting them with the people and places behind their favourite Northern Ireland food & drink.   For more information on the Taste NI campaign and award winners, follow on www.facebook.com/tastenorthernireland

GUINNESS TO CHAMPION TALENT AND CREATIVITY TO BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Arthur Guinness Projects To Invest €3 Million Over Three Years

GUINNESS® & Co. recently launched a major new cultural initiative, Arthur Guinness Projects®, designed to champion and celebrate people whose ideas, passion and spirit are enhancing and shaping our culture and identity.

Continuing the GUINNESS tradition of supporting talent and ingenuity in Ireland, the initiative sets out to invest in Ireland’s creators, visionaries and innovators across four areas of creativity and culture; Music, Sport, Arts and Food. Together with a mentoring and promotional support programme, Arthur Guinness Projects will invest €3 million in people and their projects across Ireland over the next three years, with up to 20 projects benefitting annually.

The Arthur Guinness Projects panel has been created to choose the overall winning projects, but also to provide mentoring and support to the overall winners. Comprised of 16 experts, four within each category, the panel will be spearheaded by world-renowned Irish band, The Script, who will also be performing at the Arthur’s Day 2013 celebrations on the 26th September, food guru, Dylan McGrath, Donegal inter-county manager and sports consultant, Jim McGuinness and celebrated Irish actor, Chris O’ Dowd.

Applications can be submitted online from today and up until the 9th August, 2013 via www.arthurguinnessprojects.com. The general public will vote online for the projects that they would most like to see come to life during the application period and up until the 23rd August, 2013. The top 10% of applications in each category, as voted by the public, will be reviewed by the Arthur Guinness Projects panel who will then choose the overall winning projects. Additionally, there will be a wild card element to the process. The Arthur Guinness Projects panel can choose from the pool of projects that did not make the top 10% in their respective categories, and award up to four wild card projects. 

In determining successful applicants, the expert panel will be looking for projects that will inspire everyone across the island of Ireland; those that deliver on innovation, creativity, achievability, as well as cultural and social good.

Speaking at the launch, Stephen O’Kelly, Marketing Director, GUINNESS said; “Arthur Guinness Projects has been inspired by our founder, Arthur Guinness. He was a true visionary, one of the original innovators who, along with many generations of the GUINNESS family, made many varied philanthropic gestures. We are continuing this tradition with the launch of Arthur Guinness Projects.  Ireland is a place where there is an abundance of character, talent and creativity and we wanted to play our part in invigorating our inherent culture by championing the wealth of amazing creative potential within the country.  For many people, their dreams or ideas are on hold and through Arthur Guinness Projects, we hope to help them unlock those dreams and set them alight.  We are really excited about bringing together people with real weight and experience, and pairing them with those who have inspiring ideas”.

The Arthur Guinness Projects winners 2013, a reflection of Ireland’s spirit, culture and modern identity, will be revealed on 23rd September. Also, some of the winners and applicants will be showcased as part of this year’s Arthur’s Day celebrations. Full details on the Arthur’s Day 2013 celebrations will be revealed later this summer.

The Script commented; “We are really excited about being involved with Arthur Guinness Projects. There are so many talented and innovative people in Ireland and we can’t wait to see some of the projects brought to life. Having the support of Arthur Guinness Projects will go a long way in helping someone get that important first step into the industry. We’re looking forward to being a part of that journey”.

Chris O’Dowd said, “Ireland has been waiting for an initiative like Arthur Guinness Projects. There are so many people with amazing ideas and coupled with an energy and passion that us Irish are renowned for, I have no doubt that this will help to unearth some incredible talent”.

Dylan McGrath commented; “When I first heard about Arthur Guinness Projects, I instantly knew that this was something I wanted to get involved in. It will create a brilliant platform for those within the food sector, in whatever aspect, to come forward and grab the opportunity to turn aspirations into ideas and ideas into reality. Ireland’s reputation in food is rapidly growing, but we constantly need to be innovating and raising the bar. I am very much looking forward to seeing the projects come through”.

Donegal’s Jim McGuinness said, “My initial thoughts were what a great idea, how exciting the project was and how much good could potentially come from it. I feel in the current economic climate this initiative will give great support to many people in the sport arena so I ‘m really looking forward to being involved”.

For more on the Arthur Guinness Projects cultural initiative, visit www.arthurguinnessprojects.com/ or watch www.youtube.com/watch

FORGET apples – a potato a night could help keep the blues away and leave people waking up happier, a new Irish study has found.

Steven Taylor, a chef and culinary arts student at GMIT carried out the study into how diet can impact on mood.

He discovered that a serving of potato complete with skins close to bedtime helped to increase the serotonin levels in participants.

“The aim of the study was to explore how what you eat affects how you feel, and whether through diet it is possible to improve a person’s temperament,” said Mr Taylor.

The chef, who works in product development at the organic Castlemine Farm, discovered that people woke up happier and more alert as a result of their unusual night-time snack.

“The participants were waking up in a good mood. They all felt more motivated, balanced, slept better, were less irritable and had improved energy. They also all agreed that they had a reduced amount of, if not no, cravings, were less hungry and weren’t seeking comfort foods.”

The Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology student said taking a small portion of boiled potato with skins three hours after the evening meal was sufficient to lead to the changes.

“Most people eat their evening meal between 6pm and 8pm. I’m suggesting they eat a small portion of potato around 10pm or 11pm. We’re not talking about a plate of chips here, just a small portion of spuds with the skins on,” he added.

He explained how the late plate of complex carbohydrates worked to push a vital amino acid, tryptophan, through the blood brain barrier. This in turn produces serotonin, known as the happiness drug which was then slowly released throughout the night.

Mr Taylor presented his findings at the West of Ireland’s first Gastronomy Symposium at GMIT in Galway.

Source: Irish Independent

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The Big Lunch tasted success in the Food NI tent at Balmoral over 350 people signed up for the Free pack to bring The Big Lunch idea to their neighbourhood – “it’s clear NI has an appetite for good food and community spirit”. said Grainne McCloskey –Northern Ireland Representative of The Big Lunch – a Big Lottery Funded campaign.

She said “Balmoral is easily the best event on the calendar here in Northern Ireland for getting out and reaching people with a good idea or new product, it’s the atmosphere – that makes it special. We are delighted with the support we get each year from Lindsay and colleagues at Food NI.

Since the show, we’ve had lots of people get back in touch to ask how their business, community group or street can join in with the idea and that’s what its all about!”

Last year over 8.5 million people attended a Big Lunch and this Sunday 2 June looks set to be another overwhelming success.

This Lottery-funded initiative is led by the Eden Project and supported by Halifax, MasterCard, Kingsmill and Asda. Eden started The Big Lunch in 2009 in the belief that we’re better equipped to tackle the challenges we face when we face them together

The idea is simple – bring local people together with local food local fun and friendship to improve community spirit and encourage people to live and share local.”

If you feel inspired– its never too late, simply order a free pack from The Big Lunch website www.thebiglunch.com and cook up some community spirit where you live.