French village pancake tuesday box is now available to order online & they are also hosting their annual Al Fresco Pancakes from 10-4pm at French Village Botanic this Pancake tuesday.

Order your pancake Tuesday box here: https://frenchvillage.com/products/pancake-tuesday-box?utm_campaign=emailmarketing_137171566825&utm_medium=email&utm_source=shopify_email

Food NI are delighted to launch a programme that showcases sustainable, green and regenerative tourism experiences up to 30^th April 2022.   *A small subvention fund may be available to support your proposed experience/event, subject to available funding and volume of expressions.

Please complete this short form below and provide details of your experience for inclusion. New, enhanced and collaborative experiences will be considered.  Existing experiences must demonstrate enhancement for consideration for financial support.  Marketing support may be provided for already programmed activity.

Completed application forms should be returned to Food NI at orlagh@nigoodfood.com no later than 7^th March 2022.  Successful applicants will be notified by 15^th March 2022. Applications for funding will be capped at £200 per experience and will be paid post-delivery, subject to provision of evidence that the experience was delivered.  

In partnership with the Oxford Cultural Collective, Ulster University has launched a Culinary Salon: a series of dinners prepared by some of the UK and Ireland’s most admired chefs and food writers. The events, which are staged in the new Academy restaurant in central Belfast, celebrate the cultural diversity that characterises our contemporary hospitality scene.

This creative initiative, which includes eight dinners per year, to be held over the next five years, has been made possible through generous funding from the Savoy Educational Trust.

The next dinner in the series will be prepared by Jeremy Lee, Chef Proprietor of the beloved Quo Vadis, the restaurant and members’ club on Dean Street in London’s Soho, working with hospitality and culinary arts management students from Ulster University.  

To book, follow this link.

A new all-island strategy has set out plans by Irish Gin producers and brand owners to maintain market share and grow sales by 2026. The plan sets out a range of goals and actions to develop a vibrant domestic Irish market, drive exports in key markets, support the viability of Irish Gin distilleries and ensure the quality and standards of Irish Gin are protected.

There are now at least 37 distilleries producing Irish Gin on the island of Ireland, with over 70 brands. This includes at least eight Irish Gin producing distilleries in Northern Ireland.

The Irish Gin Strategy 2022-2026 from Drinks Ireland|Spirits, the all-island trade body, was launched at an event in Belfast tonight.

It details how Irish Gin and gin has experienced a number of years of very strong growth, where sales soared. Between 2014 and 2020 the Irish Gin and gin category grew by an estimated 184 percent

While the ‘boom’ has been slowing in recent years, 2020 was the first year where Irish Gin and gin sales declined, as a direct result of the pandemic. As the on-trade reopens, and Global Travel Retail recovers, it’s anticipated that the category will return to pre-pandemic levels over time, and the new strategy details plans to maintain this hard-won market share and drive strong and sustainable growth in the years ahead.

Currently, Ireland is the dominant market for Irish Gin, but the strategy puts a heavy focus on driving export growth, earmarking the U.K., USA, Germany, Canada and Global Travel Retail as key targets in the coming years.

Asia – and China specifically – has also been identified as a target market, due to its size, growing stature and value heritage, which Irish distilling has, and innovation which drives much of the Irish Gin category.

Irish Gin is a premium plus product which has been established as a world-leader in terms of quality and authenticity. This has and will be key to positioning the category internationally, according to Drinks Ireland|Spirits.

The strategy also outlines how the sector plans to further grow the category domestically, by highlighting the local nature of Irish Gin products and the important role they play in the economic viability of the hinterlands that their producers and brand owners are based in.

 Overall, The Irish Gin Strategy 2022-2026 sets out four goals for the category, with a number of corresponding actions:

1. To promote world-leading standards for quality and authenticity
2. To sustain a vibrant home market for Irish Gin
3. To promote Irish Gin worldwide, starting in the key target markets
4. To support the viability of Irish gin distilleries

Gordon Lyons MLA, Minister for the Economy, Northern Ireland Executive said: “May I commend Drinks Ireland and the Irish Gin Working Group on preparation of the Strategy. I also wish to recognise the commitment and ambition of our local spirits producers and the contribution they are making towards regional employment, export sales and enhancing Northern Ireland’s international reputation as a producer of world-class food & drink.”

David Boyd-Armstrong, Chairman of the Drinks Ireland|Spirits’ Irish Gin working group, and joint founder and Director of Distilling, Rademon Estate Distillery in Co. Down, which creates Shortcross Gin said: “The Irish Gin sector has grown extremely quickly in recent years, driven by innovative and ambitious producers and brand owners, dedicated to creating quality and authentic products. Our strategy will enable the industry to take advantage of the opportunities in the domestic and international market and face the various challenges ahead. A key part of our strategy centres on protecting the Irish Gin category, and we will be working to seek the introduction of rules covering the marketing and labelling of Irish Gin in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK to ensure consumers know what they are buying.”

Vincent McGovern, Director of Drinks Ireland|Spirits said: “Irish Gin has been a true success story in recent years. Our members employ dozens of people across both urban and rural Ireland producing this much-loved spirit and exporting to markets across the globe. Following a number of years of very fast growth, and in the context of the ever-changing national and international conditions, there was the need for a fresh strategy for the sector, to ensure it can recover from Covid-19, and continue to grow in the years ahead.”

Jawbox Gin has secured a listing with the global travel retail company Dufry, which will see the listing of the brand’s travel retail exclusive Export Strength Gin available in the travel retailer’s World Duty Free store at Belfast City Airport. 

Containing a higher ABV than other products in the range, Jawbox Export Strength is bottled at 47% ABV and is triple-distilled to give the liquid a smoother profile. The higher strength liquid is a more intense expression of Jawbox Small Batch Gin and is perfect for cocktails. The bespoke bottle has been designed to further enhance its visual impact and individuality on the travel retail shelves, with a sleek black matt finish. 

Jawbox Export Strength Gin has been developed in homage to the brand’s Northern Irish roots. Belfast is a city renowned for its innovation and history and the inspiration for Jawbox Export Strength comes from the city’s Victorian golden age when it was a global manufacturing powerhouse, importing and exporting goods from around the world. The name ‘Jawbox’, as many locals know, comes from the nickname for the famous Belfast kitchen sink, a lasting symbol of the city’s great industrial heritage in the early 1900s. A lot of laughter and craic was heard around the Jawbox. It still is.

The Jawbox Distillery is located on a 300-acre 16th century estate where much of the grain for the spirit is grown and harvested. Jawbox Small Batch Gin is triple-distilled very slowly in traditional copper pot stills and in small batches using a unique combination of 11 carefully selected botanicals. Most of these are ‘steep and boil’ and the final three botanicals are put through the vapour extraction method to preserve their delicate flavour and aroma. 

The award-winning Jawbox Gin is distributed by Kirker Greer Spirits. John Soden CCO of Kirker Greer Spirits said: “We are delighted to partner with Dufry on our Jawbox Gin brand and see it available in their World Duty Free stores in Belfast City Airport, in the brand’s home country. We have seen distribution for Jawbox expand across Europe and Australia, but we haven’t forgotten the importance of our local market. The Belfast City Airport listing will allow Jawbox to be visible to thousands of visitors and the exclusive bottle will be an attractive offering. We look forward to working with the team at Dufry and building upon the success of Jawbox across this channel over the coming years.”

Aisha Dad, Dufry’s Category Manager for Liquor in the UK said: ‘’We always strive to offer our customers the best possible shopping experience. Listing Jawbox Export Strength Gin allows us to promote an award-winning local product, which is always of interest to our passengers. The bottle has great on-shelf presence and the fact that it’s a unique and exclusive line is an added bonus.  We look forward to offering it to our customers from April.’’

Dufry has more than 60 years of travel retail experience – just one of the factors that has contributed to the company’s successful position today as one of the leading travel retailers worldwide.