Rademon Estate Distillery, makers of Shortcross Gin,
begin production of new Irish Malt Whiskey
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.
Caption:
Pictured: Fiona and David Boyd-Armstrong, 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. Picture by Elaine Hill.
Notes:
- Rademon Estate Distillery is Northern Ireland’s first and only craft distillery and the producer of the multi award-winning Shortcross Gin.
- 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.
- The beginning of production of Rademon’s new Irish Whiskey completes an investment of £2M to date, with a further £2M investment planned in the next three years.
- The first 100 casks of Rademon Estate’s new Irish Malt Whiskey have been sealed, with the first batch of its three-year old whiskey expected to be ready by 2018.
- Rademon Estate Distillery’s multi award-winning Shortcross Gin has won several high profile awards since its launch in 2014 including a silver medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2015; a silver outstanding medal at the 2014 International Wine & Spirit Competition; a gold and silver medal at the Gin Masters 2014; and a silver award in the spirits category at Blas Na hÉireann [The Irish Food Awards] 2014.
- Following success across Ireland, Shortcross Gin launched into the UK market in summer 2014, as spirit of the month for luxury London retailer, Fortnum & Mason in August. It continues to be stocked at the famous Piccadilly department store and online at fortnumandmason.com
- Shortcross is now exported to four countries, including France and Holland.
- Rademon Estate Distillery promotes responsible drinking. Enjoy Shortcross Gin responsibly.
Q&A with David & Fiona Boyd-Armstrong, Rademon Estate Distillery
Questions and Responses
- Have you created any jobs and do you expect to create more?
- We are expanding our team from four to eight, with four new posts to be filled imminently and a further two in the pipeline, which will bring our team to 10.
- Have you seen sales increase month on month since you started?
- Yes, sales have risen month on month, and we are seeing increased interest and demand for Shortcross Gin in all of our markets.
- Where is Shortcross Gin currently available?
- Shortcross Gin is available in all good independent off licenses as well as high end hotels, bars and clubs across the province of Ireland. Having expanded our UK network to include Scotland and England, we have recently secured export orders to Holland, Spain and France.
- And which new countries/markets do you plan to export to with this expansion?
- We expect further expansion in European, North America, Asia, Australia – worldwide markets.
- Where are most of your sales coming from?
- Ireland at present but we expect our sales into European markets to expand this year.
- There aren’t many Irish gins, but there are lots of Irish whiskeys. Why go into whiskey?
- As the business develops we are seeking to develop our skills and create new products. Entering the Whiskey market allows us to become part of the fastest growing spirits category globally and provides an exciting opportunity for us to expand the sales of our products.
- The current Irish Whiskey offering is dominated by Pot Still and Grain whiskies. To differentiate ourselves we are creating an Irish Malt Whiskey, a style of Irish Whiskey that is under represented in the market.
- Are there lots of Irish whiskeys?
- There are less than ten working distilleries in Ireland, many of which produce a brand for third parties who are a brand and not a distillery, this is in comparison to Scotland who have 120 whiskey distilleries. Irish whiskey as a sector grew exponentially last year; it was the fastest growing spirit in the world. Please find attached a further export report recently launched
- How long before you’re able to actually sell your whiskey?
- A minimum of three years and a day. However, we will only release our Whiskey at a point where we feel it is ready to enter the market place. This means it could be 3, 5 of 7 years before our first release. This is an aspect that makes creating our own whiskey very exciting.
- Do you plan to raise money to invest in the distillery?
- How are you planning to finance it?
- Private investment, the creation of a new visitors’ experience centre and through the increasing sales of Shortcross Gin.
- What is going to make your whiskey different to the other Irish whiskey distilleries that have started up?
- We will be the third distillery to be operational in Northern Ireland in over 125 years. Our distillery will produce small batch hand-crafted whiskey and will be estate; it is our intention to use grain from our own estate.
- We are creating an Irish Malt Whiskey, a style of Irish Whiskey that is under represented on the market.
- We are also exploring the possibilities of using cask varieties that will aid us in creating new flavour profiles.
- What expertise do you have in distilling?
- We have been operating the distillery for last 16 months and have created our award winning Shortcross Gin. The diversification into Whiskey has allowed us to apply skills that we have learnt from the various courses over the past four years as we extensively researched the spirits industry.
- It’s a crowded category, do you think you’ll be able to compete with big brands?
- We feel the market is not crowded, but is actually under supplied at the moment, thus creating an ideal scenario for new market entrants. We aim to build upon our reputation for creating the award-winning Shortcross Gin to develop a new and exciting Irish Malt Whiskey.
