Our Story

We attended numerous events including trade shows CATEX, Dublin and SCOTHOT in Glasgow. There have been receptions at the Houses of Parliament and the Irish Embassy in London where Irish Black Butter was thoroughly enjoyed with fine cheese and crackers.

We again had a presence at the Scottish Game Fair at Scone Palace. Locally we had stands at Love Your Food Show, Balmoral Show, Belfast and agricultural shows including Clogher Valley, Fermanagh County Show and the Honey Fair at Hillsborough Castle.. We were involved with filming for the NI Investment Summit. September saw Irish Black Butter featured in a showcase at ANUGA Cologne as part of DEFRA Great Food and Drink Campaign.

In October Irish Black Butter was enjoyed with sausage rolls at a reception in New York and in November it was also on the menu with venison at Country Living Show, Glasgow thanks to MasterChef The Professionals Winner; Gary MacLean. Rounding off the year Irish Black Butter was awarded GOLD in the Quality Food Awards and sold out at the Houses of Parliament Christmas Fayre. Quite a year!

In the Summer of 2017 the nucleus of a new adventure began.  From the seeds of an old idea and the culinary alchemy of Paul Clarke emerged  Irish Black Butter, ‘a great new taste of Ireland’ fashioned from Armagh Bramley Apples, cider, brandy, treacle, sugar and spices – an inclusive  sweet savoury taste sensation for cooking, baking, spreading or mixing.

On the 2^nd November 2017 Irish Black Butter was launched at The Whiterocks beach near Portrush in County Antrim. Photographer Kevin McAuley orchestrated the photoshoot with a symphony of images midst sand and marram grass, apples and fine china. As they stood on the beach that afternoon Kevin said to Alastair “I have a good feeling about this Ali.” There was an immediate uptake as the first jar was sold there on the beach that afternoon.  Soon after, press coverage by food writer Sam Butler lead to interest from leading retailers locally and in Greater Belfast.

Sold out in a matter of days, more Irish Black Butter was urgently produced to cater for growing demand.  ‘A great new taste of Ireland’ was born to a fanfare of excitement which was only to increase after the pages  closed on 2017.

The new year started in unexpected fashion  when Daniella from the famous Morrelli’s Ice Cream dynasty got in touch to explore Irish Black Butter being made into ice cream. This has won a Great Taste Award and is now available through Morelli’s outlets. Following on from this the business was introduced to Food NI through Christine and lead to many an adventure of food related events.  Irish Black Butter continues to be a member of Food NI. A first distribution agreement was arranged with Sheridans Cheesemongers to supply their company stores and concessions within Dunnes Stores as well as leading retailers including Fallon and Byrne in Dublin. The year continued apace  with visits to Borough Market in London, IFEX  Belfast, Sheridans Irish Food Festival, Speciality and Fine Food Show  Olympia, London, National Ploughing Championships near Tullamore, Richhill Apple Harvest Fayre and Gifted at the RDS in Dublin. Irish Black Butter was stocked at AELIA Duty Free in the Taste Of Ulster section at Belfast International Airport and also Belfast’s Titanic Centre. It is a popular choice for visitors and travellers at both locations. Irish Black Butter picked up its first award; Business Eye First Trust Bank Business Start Up Of the Year 2018, Chefs Choice Award:  Blas na h’Eireann Irish Food Awards and  received an Enterprise Fund Award from Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

If 2018 was busy then 2019 was something else.  In February a casual stroll along the West Bay promenade at Portrush lead to a chance encounter with a friend who suggested entering BBC Dragon’s Den and this was the catalyst for a memorable adventure. In early March an email and a  telephone interview lead to a video audition at BBC’s Media City in Manchester. It was a success and lead to  entering the famous ‘Den’ in late April.  As the lift doors opened the word ‘surreal’ came to mind as  sitting right in front with their notepads and pens were the famous’ Dragons’ Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies, Deborah Meadon, Tej Lalvani and Peter Jones.  A fraction of what occurred can now be viewed on the BBC Dragons Den Youtube channel.

Celebrity Chef James Martin used Irish Black Butter on his Great British Adventure television series where he held up a jar and exclaimed “This is off the charts … wondrous Irish Black Butter.”

Awards were received for Cheese Accompaniment at Nantwich International Cheese Awards which was followed by a major achievement of Three Stars in the internationally recognized Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards. Added to these was an award from the Farming Life for Artisan Producer Of The Year. As 2019 drew to a close Irish Black Butter was included in hampers for NATO World Leaders.

A year of twists and turns started with Irish Black Butter Peanut Spread collecting a silver award at Scotland’s Speciality Food Show.

Things continued pretty much as normal into March with Fine Food North at Harrogate where some good contacts were made. Travelling back to Northern Ireland on the inaugural sailing of the new Stena Edda  there was a sense of expectation as in two days we were due to depart on business to Nashville for St Patricks. However as the tornados wreaked havoc and the pandemic swept round the World the trip was called off. Irish Black Butter has still made it to the USA and is available locally in New York and Boston.

Everything seemed to be closing up – even Irish Black Butter  but somehow it kept going and online sales increased. In November the clip of James Martin using Irish Black Butter was used on Saturday morning and it took over a week to clear the orders ! Thankyou James Martin.

And so 2020 drew to a close and we all looked to better days ahead.

A new year and green shoots of encouragement as Irish Black Butter was used in Bord Bia’s St Patrick’s Day hampers.

Our Peanut Spread was accepted on to the Grow With ALDI campaign and we used an innovative advertising campaign using tractors and advertising trailers albeit in 1:32 scale which toured Ireland before finishing at an ALDI store. It certainly caught attention on social media. Later in the year Irish Black Butter was included in co-packed ALDI Christmas Hams which were very successful.

A new distribution agreement was reached with La Rousse Foods to distribute Irish Black Butter food service tubs for the hospitality and catering sector.

Rounding off 2021 Irish Black Butter became the Great British Food Awards 2021 Regional Winner and a longstanding linkage with Small Business Saturday lead to Irish Black Butter attending a celebration  of great British food producers at No. 10 Downing Street. Naturally there were a few pictures taken to mark the occasion.

As 2022 developed Irish Black Butter was used at a St Patrick’s reception in Nashville and in canapes at a prestigious event at the British Embassy in Paris.

There were a series of shows, IFE in London, IFEX at Belfast, Vegan Festival Belfast, Garden Show Ireland, Balmoral Show, Armagh County Show, Love Your Home Show Belfast, Scottish Game Fair at Scone Palace in Perth which lead to a distribution agreement with Ochil Foods who distribute to high status establishments in Scotland.  There were also further events – the Lammas Fair Ballycastle, Eats And Beats Festival Newcastle.

At the Mansion House in Dublin Irish Black Butter was awarded Gold in the prestigious Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards – in the Relishes and Chutneys category.