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A County Down distillery is to revive the process of large-scale barley malting in Northern Ireland after buying the Ards Maltings building.
An iconic site on the outskirts of Newtownards, the building has been bought by Echlinville Distillery in part of a £5 million investment – with the help of Bank of Ireland – which will restore the maltings process there for the first time since the 1980s.
It aims to produce not only enough malt from locally-grown barley to feed its own needs at its Kircubbin Distillery, but also to sell malt to other distilleries around the world.
Currently the firm grows its own malting barley as raw material for the process and, once the maltings are up and running, Echlinville will be the only distillery on the island of Ireland capable of producing, malting, fermenting and distilling spirit from field to grass.
It became the first distillery in Northern Ireland for over 125 years when it got its license and casked its first spirit in 2013 and now produces a range of spirits including Dunville’s Irish Whiskey, Old Comber Whiskey, Matt D’Arcy Whiskey, Jawbox Gin, Weavers Spirits, Echlinville Single Estate Irish Pot Still Gin and Bán Poitín.
Shane Braniff, is the owner and founder of The Echlinville Distillery, and said the locality around the maltings and distillery are ideal for growing malting barley.
“Irish whiskey is the world’s fastest growing spirits category and locally we have a long history of quality whiskey production,” he said. “The Ards Peninsula has historically been known as one of the finest grain growing regions in Ireland, so it’s no coincidence that Ards Maltings was established at the northern end of the Peninsula, malting barley from the surrounding farms and becoming one of the country’s largest malting houses.”
He said that in its prime, Ards Malting provided malted barley to distilleries and breweries around Ireland, including such companies as Guinness, Bushmills and Comber Distilleries – the home of Old Comber Whiskey, a brand that we revived and now produce at Echlinville.
“Ards Maltings is among the Ards’ most iconic buildings, standing proudly on the Northern shore of Strangford Lough and welcoming people to the Peninsula. We are excited to be able to restore the building for the purpose for which it was first built while continuing on our journey to put County Down back on the world whiskey map.”
Gavin North, Senior Business Manager at Bank of Ireland UK, worked with the Echlinville team on the investment.
“Shane and the team at Echlinville Distillery have been quietly leading the regeneration of quality local whiskey production and their pursuit of excellence in every aspect is admired and recognised by the significant international awards they have achieved to date.
“We’re pleased to have provided the funding to support this next phase of their sustainable business plan and look forward to working closely with the team as they continue to achieve success locally and globally, placing Echlinville Distillery firmly on the internationally acclaimed whiskey tourism map.”
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