Craft company churns up the butter market
Natural hand churned butter from Abernethy Butter Company in Northern Ireland is now being used by one of the Republic of Ireland's top restaurants. Abernethy secured its first export business, with the award winning Alexis Bar and Grill at Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin, through a Twitter conversation.
Abernethy Butter, Ireland's original producer of hand churned butter, also used to make an award winning butter fudge, is implementing a social media strategy to grow sales outside Northern Ireland. Formed in 2007, the Alexis has won a string of awards for its food.
The butter is hand churned on a sheep farm at Dromara, County Down, and is now on sale in 50 delis and farm shops across Northern Ireland.
The artisan business, formed by husband and wife team Will and Allison Abernethy in 2005, is now seeking to build on its growing popularity in Northern Ireland by developing business outside the province.
Allison Abernethy, says: "Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are a great way for a small company to market products internationally. We are using both to make contact with leading chefs, delis, farm shop and independent retailers.
"The contract to supply Alexis Bar and Grill came from a conversation I have been having with the restaurant's chef. He asked for samples and has since ordered it for the restaurant, a marvellous boost for us."
The enterprising couple, who currently run the business on a part time basis, use only traditional techniques on the their 66 acre Beechtree Farm, which has been in Will's family for generations. They source cream for the butter from a local farm that grazes cows on the lush green pastures of the Lagan Valley in County Antrim. All that is added to the natural butter is a pinch of salt.
What the couple have done is to carry forward successfully a tradition of hand churning butter on local farms, a skill the couple began demonstrating at farmers' markets and other community events such as meetings of Women's Institutes, country fairs, church groups and vintage shows. In addition, the butter is being used for handcrafting a creamy and smooth fudge, particularly for special occasions such as weddings. The fudge gained a UK Great Taste Award from the Guild of Fine Food.
"What influenced us to set up the butter business was the response from visitors who saw us demonstrating how butter used to be hand churned. There was tremendous interest in the natural and richly flavoured butter he produced. People began asking us if they could buy it," she adds.
"We saw that there was clearly demand for the traditional butter and decided to carry it forward. Each roll of butter is lovingly made just like granny did in the farmhouse kitchen so many years ago. We are both passionate about the quality, texture and taste of our butter. It's immensely rewarding to bring a traditional technique back to life and it's proving extremely popular."