Northern Ireland's Shortcross Gin opens new centre for visitors

Rademon Estate Distillery, producer of Northern Ireland's original Shortcross Craft Gin, has opened a purpose-built visitors' centre.

The distillery, located near Crossgar in county Down, has also launched a programme of tours to enable visitors to see how the award-winning gin is produced and also where the company is maturing a new single malt Irish whiskey.

The distillery was launched in 2012 by Fiona and David Boyd-Armstrong. The name Shortcross is derived from Crossgar, the area where the estate lies. 'Gar' is an old Irish word for 'short'.

Visitors can enjoy a multi-sensory walk to the rolling river, a peaceful place; alive with scents and sounds - breath deep and enjoy the fragrances and aromas that inspired the distillery's founders.

The visitors centre displays Irish photographer Patricia Pyne's county Down dolmens and scenes from season 5 Game of Thrones that were filmed at Rademon Estate in 2015. Guests can enjoy some snippets from the eight weeks of filming here.

Unlike any other distillery experience in Ireland, visitors will be greeted by one of its founders and distiller, David-Boyd Armstrong. Included is an exclusive, behind the scenes look at the distillery and the precise, by-hand processes that make Shortcross Gin so special.

At the heart of the distillery is a 450l copper pot still, furnished with two enrichment columns - the only of its kind in the world.

Botanicals from the estate are combined and distilled with water drawn freshly from the historic estate well. The copper ensures the quality and smoothness of the final spirit and the enrichment columns contribute to the aroma and flavour profile.

The process is completed from start to finish under the watchful eye of David. Boyd-Armstrong. Throughout the process, David tastes and noses each cut to ensure the renowned quality and continuity of every single batch of Shortcross Gin.

After the distillery tour and Q&A with the distiller, visitors continue on their gin journey to the Shortcross Gin Bar to enjoy the much-anticipated tasting portion of the tour.

The gin features a range of botanicals including wild clover, elderflower, elderberries and fresh apples from the estate's walled garden orchard. All these botanicals are grown on Rademon Estate and guests have the opportunity to smell and taste.

These home-grown, indigenous botanicals are the key to the unique aroma and flavour profile of Shortcross Gin, combining the best of what is grown there, with the best of the rest of the world.

The tour includes a Shortcross Masterclass enabling visitors to craft the ultimate Shortcross gin and tonic. There's a full bar, including a licensed outdoor terrace for guests to enjoy our cocktail menu in the beautiful surroundings of Rademon.

There's also off-license and distillery shop where guests can buy Shortcross hampers, personalised bottles, limited edition bottles, tonics, branded glasses and giftware and gift vouchers amongst other seasonal items.

One of the oldest family-owned estates in Ireland, with a house rich with history and originally built in 1604, Rademon Estate spans over 500 acres of lush green forests, is home to thousands of species of flora and fauna and is the birthplace and inspiration for Shortcross Gin. Surrounding this family home are beautiful gardens in a naturally sloping terrain with a lake and semi walled garden.

An obelisk can be seen in the distance is one of the focal points on Rademon Estate, built in 1864 as a monument to one of the estate's previous owners, William Sharman Crawford - a Chartist, he was involved in the British working-class movement for political reform in the 1800's.