New craft rum developed by Northern Irish start-up distillery
A new distillery in Northern Ireland is set to launch craft rums, gins and vodkas.
Ion Distillery is planning the new spirits at its premises near Carrickmore in county Tyrone.
All the spirits will be made using water from the distillery's own artisan well, which is filtered through ancient volcanic rock that lies beneath our plant. The rum will be the first to be produced in Northern Ireland.
Ion Distillery is the brainchild of Darren Nugent, the founder and owner of Pokertree Craft Brewing Company, also based at Carrickmore.
The brewery has a successful portfolio of craft beers. The distillery will also feature a visitor centre.
Mr Nugent, commenting on the new distillery, says: "We noticed a growing interest in hand crafted spirits and decided to explore the opportunity for rum, vodka and gin. The visitor centre will enable us to showcase our range of beers as well as the new spirits.
"We're looking to produce the spirits from scratch, an investment that will mean new jobs in the distillery and the visitor centre.
"Our rums are made with the finest sugar cane molasses, using a purpose built Caribbean "Doubler-style" copper column still which is unique in Ireland and the UK.
"We use authentic rum yeasts and age some of our spirit in bourbon barrels for a totally authentic, yet unique product.
"The vodkas are also made in-house in a dedicated hand-made still from the finest wheat, rye and barley blends and is distilled up to 10 times to create an exceptionally clean and unique spirit - perfect to sip or as a great base for cocktails.
"The gins use our own base spirit with the infusion of the finest botanicals sourced from around the world. Produced in a dedicated gin still, with subtle peppery notes and a dry citrus finish - our gin embodies our ethos perfectly," he adds.
Each bottle is hand made in small batches and stone filtered.
Pokertree Brewing Company was launched by Mr Nugent in 2014 and currently produces a range of five beers and ales.