SLR has partnered with the Scottish Retail Food and Drinks Awards and Invest NI to bring Scotland’s local retailers some of the finest spirits, mixers and RTDs Northern Ireland has to offer.
Within the pages of SLR, we’re always banging on about the importance of having a unique selling point and giving customers a reason to walk past another store to get to yours. One way of achieving this is through a differentiated spirits range, one that offers your shoppers an alternative to the usual selection of mainstream tipples.
And if you’re looking for something a bit different, you don’t have to look very far. With only 12 miles of separation at the closest point, Northern Ireland is practically within touching distance for Scottish local retailers and what’s more, it’s home to a number of small independent distilleries and other drink producers who are keen to get their products into your store.
Irish Whiskey is in the midst of a vibrant renaissance at the moment and Northern Ireland’s distilleries remain integral to this growth. The category continues to be one of the fastest-growing drinks categories and the value of the global Irish Whiskey market is expected to increase by nearly £1bn over the next five years.
So, to help you get a piece of that action – and stand out from the crowd – SLR has partnered with the Scottish Retail Food and Drink Awards and Northern Ireland’s economic development agency, Invest NI, to bring you this outstanding selection of drinks.
Belfast Distillery Company
McConnell’s Irish Whisky 5-Year-Old
McConnell’s is an award-winning blend of fine Irish malt and grain whiskies. We mature our Whisky for five years in first fill ex-bourbon casks, and bottle at 42% ABV.
How does it taste? Expect vanilla. Butterscotch. Hints of citrus and spice, with a soft, sweet, lingering finish.
First established in 1776, McConnell’s is one of the oldest Irish whiskies. And, we still spell it the way we did back then… without the ‘e’.
Now the new McConnell’s distillery – the first in our home city of Belfast for nearly 90 years – is bringing back a proud whisky-making tradition. One robust, silky-smooth bottle at a time.
- Website: mcconnellsirishwhisky.com
- Email: info@belfastdistillery.com
- Telephone: 0782 747 8310
Troughtons Premium
Troughtons Raising Spirits range
Troughtons Premium is an extension of Armagh Cider Company, run by the Troughton family, which has been growing and nurturing apples for five generations and has produced award-winning craft cider since 2006.
More recently the company has created a new suite of lemonades, tonics and mixers using spring water from its estate at Ballinteggart. The range is available in several delicious flavours including an award-winning Premium Indian tonic.
Troughtons Premium Indian Tonic is a refreshing, crisp and clean tonic water, blended with the finest African quinine to create a great tasting tonic to invigorate your spirits. It also has subtle tea notes to represent how popular tea is here in Northern Ireland.
- Website: troughtonspremium.com
- Email: info@armaghcider.com
- Telephone: 028 3833 4268
Symphonia Spirits
Symphonia Apple Rum 500ml 40% ABV
We take white rum from the sun-kissed islands of the Caribbean and infuse it with local Jonagold apples grown in the orchard of Ireland, which nestles on the border of Co. Armagh and Co. Tyrone.
To this heavenly mixture we add the essence of a local botanical that imparts the spicy flavours of nutmeg and cloves to the apple, making this golden spirit taste like apple pie in a glass.
Doing this we perfectly capture our vision: to remain true to the purity of science and nature by capturing flavours and fragrances of botanicals to make the best-tasting spirits in the most eco-efficient way.
- Website: symphoniaspirits.com
- Email: steven@woodlabdistillery.com
- Telephone: 0785 895 5785 or 0288 765 8408
Rademon Estate Distillery
Shortcross Cocktails
Each of our premixed 200ml cocktail bottles contain two serves and consumers just shake or stir over ice for 30 seconds – no extras are needed to create premium cocktails at home.
The range includes Elderflower Negroni (27% ABV), a twist on a traditional negroni made with Shortcross gin, vermouth, Campari and elderflower tea; Modern Martinez (30% ABV), a modern twist on the classic Martinez that uses Shortcross gin, vermouth, maraschino liqueur and curacao; Gin Old Fashioned (30% ABV), a dry and rich spin on the classic whiskey cocktail made with Shortcross gin, sugar syrup and bitters; Bramble (21% ABV), one of Rademon’s most serves that combines Shortcross gin, crème de mure, lemon juice and sugar syrup; and Classic Aviation (29% ABV), a blend of Shortcross gin , Crème de violette, maraschino liqueur and lemon juice.
- Website: shortcrossgin.com
- Email: hello@shortcrossgin.com
- Telephone: 0284 483 0001
Suki Tea Makers
Black Bush Blend
With a mutual pursuit of quality and flavour, the team at Suki has collaborated with Bushmills Irish Whiskey to introduce Black Bush Blend. Each has its beginnings in a single ingredient: a grain of malt, the leaf of a tea plant. Both, through time-honoured craft, express themselves in endless ways.
“We are proud to be working with the oldest distillery in the world to create a unique hand-blended Black Bush-inspired tea blend. Taking influence from the rich, smooth notes of Black Bush, Suki has created a blend bursting with aromatic, warm spices and a finishing flavour of sweet, dried fruit, mirroring the big robust flavours and velvety smooth character of Black Bush. Packed into biodegradable pyramids.” – Oscar Woolley, co-founder, Suki Tea
- Website: suki-tea.com
- Email: queries@suki-tea.com
- Telephone: 07891427590
Mourne Dew Distillery
Pooka Hazelnut Poitín Liqueur
Mourne Dew Distillery is part of the renaissance in Irish distilling. It is a fusion of ancient and modern in that old recipes have been updated using modern technology. Tried and tested techniques are augmented with cutting-edge distillation and flavour-development processes to produce outstanding award-winning liqueurs.
Alongside its portfolio of award-winning whiskeys, gins and poitins, Mourne now also offers a new vodka range.
Its hazelnut poitin liqueur is infused and distilled with roast hazelnuts to give a strong, rich nutty flavour which complements the flavour of the poitin spirit and the oaky notes arising from the storage of the spirit. Sweetened and blended to 35% ABV, it can be enjoyed as a shot, over crushed ice, in coffee, with a dash of fresh cream or in cocktails.
- Website: mournedew.com
- Email: neil@mournedew.com
- Telephone: 07858 523946
