Northern Ireland's Boatyard Gin goes international

Northern Ireland's recently launched Boatyard Gin has strengthened its position in Britain and international markets as result of listings with leading distributors in London.

The company, based in a converted boat yard near Enniskillen in county Fermanagh, produces a triple distilled craft gin. The small distillery's gin has just been listed by Speciality Drinks and The Whisky Exchange, both based in London with extensive track records in international sales of spirits.

Founded by Joe McGirr, an experienced spirit distiller, in 2015, Boatyard Gin is made with spirit from organically grown wheat. The botanicals include juniper, coriander, lemon, angelica, orris, liquorice and grains of paradise.

Joe McGirr, founder and managing director of Boatyard Gin, commenting on the new listings, says: "We are delighted to have secured these important distribution agreements with both Speciality Drinks and the Whisky Exchange.

"The agreements are immensely important to the business as we implement our strategic focus on developing sales in Britain and in other international markets. Feedback on the gin has been hugely positive. We are keen to harness the business potential of the rapidly growing international market for premium gins like Boatyard," he adds.

Boatyard Gin (ABV 46% and available in distinctive 70cl bottles), is the first in Fermanagh for 130 years, and the distillery overlooks picturesque Lough Erne in Northern Ireland's Lakelands.

McGirr has held management posts within the distilling industry for over 15 years with Glenmorangie and Moet Hennessy before setting up Boatyard.

In 2014, he joined the London Distillery Company as chief operating officer and had always hoped to move back to his native Fermanagh.

The concept for The Boatyard Distillery was born three years ago with the simple ethos to create award winning spirits from local raw materials. Since then, Joe and his team have built the concept through to location, engineering, planning permission, HMRC bonded spirit approval, spirit creation and branding.

"The production of the base spirit, and the careful selection of local botanical ingredients give Boatyard Gin a distinctive taste profile to stand out against competitors in the market," he says.

The second phase of structural work will see the creation of a vodka production area.This will be one of the first vodkas in Ireland to be distilled from locally harvested potatoes.

Speciality Drinks is a specialist on-trade supplier of whiskies, fine spirits and Champagnes. Founded in 1999 by brothers Rajbir and Sukhinder Singh, the family-owned company has the largest product portfolio in the industry and a reputation for customer service.

The Whisky Exchange (TWE) is also a family business founded in 1999, and has since grown to be the internet's number-one specialist retailer of whisky and other spirits, serving thousands of customers every week.

The Whisky Exchange has also won a string of industry awards, including Independent Spirits Retailer of the Year and Whisky Magazine's Online Retailer of the Year. The company has a thriving on-trade business supplying top-quality products to an ever-increasing number of the UK's finest hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants and world-famous style bars.