Shortcross Irish Whiskey and poitín proving a big hit in the US
Rademon Estate Distillery, based outside Downpatrick, has secured a distribution agreement in the US with Preiss Imports for its Irish Whiskey Bonding Company Blended Irish Whiskey; Shortcross Irish Whiskey and its Shortcross Poitín. The Distillery launched its new Rye & Malt Irish Whiskey in April 2022. Preiss Imports has a distribution network across the US which will see the products go into hotels, bars and restaurants in California, New York, New Jersey, Nevada and South Carolina.
Speaking about the success of its new products, David Boyd-Armstrong, Co-Founder and Head Distiller at Rademon Estate Distillery said: “We’ve recently added two new products to our portfolio. Our new Shortcross Whiskey is amongst the first Irish Whiskey’s to be wholly distilled and released by a new Irish Whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland since the 1920’s and we’re delighted that it is already growing in popularity. Once the spirit of rural Ireland, Poitín has made a remarkable comeback over the last 20 years which is why we created our very own using 100 per cent Irish cereals.
“We already have a firm foothold in the US for our award winning Shortcross Gin and we’re utilising this in-market knowledge to grow our share of the US Irish whiskey and poitín markets. Since launching, we’ve been blown away by the interest we’ve received for both products in countries around the world. Not only are our bottles currently making their way to the US, but we’ve also secured our first entry into the Netherlands with bottles set to be on shelves and online in the first quarter of this year.”
The Downpatrick based Distillery has been working with Invest NI since it established in 2014. Most recently, the company received support through the Covid-19 Productive Investment Capital Grant (PICG), developed by Invest NI to help businesses to adapt to, and recover from the challenges of Covid-19. The company has also availed of marketing assistance.
David Boyd-Armstrong continued: “The support from both PICG and Invest NI’s marketing assistance has been invaluable in helping us to set a clear direction. The support has helped us to diversify the capabilities of our business, improve productivity in blending and bottling our new whiskey and supported us to position both our whiskey and poitín brands more competitively. We’re really looking forward to the new era in our business and building our exports globally.”
Congratulating the company, John Hood, Invest NI’s Director of Food & Drink said: “Our relationship with Rademon Estate has grown over the years and it has been fantastic to watch the company grow into a world-renowned brand with new innovative products coming on board. The valuable support we have offered Rademon has enabled the company to develop new products and bring those products to market to grow their exports.
“It’s also great to see the successful outworking’s of PICG which we developed to support local companies to make crucial capital investments to make them more resilient, more profitable, and more productive.”
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Pictured L-R are: Fiona Walker, Client Manager, Invest NI; John Hood, Director of Food & Drink, Invest NI; and David Boyd Armstrong Co-Founder & Head Distiller, Rademon Estate Distillery.
