Dave Kernaghan describes himself as a “rock saucerer”

Dave Kernaghan describes himself as a “rock saucerer”… and with good reason.

A lover of hot sauces, Dave, from Helen’s Bay in Co Down, has already created spicy tastes with rock legends Snow Patrol and Metallica to sell to fans at gigs across the world.

Owner of the quirky Rock A Doodle Do Sauces, Dave has just developed original BBQ maple sauces using Dunville Irish whiskey, a legendary and award-winning brand that’s been revived by the Echlinville Distillery at Kircubbin.

Dave’s original Dunville branded sauces were developed in association with the team at Echlinville for sale on-line and in the distillery’s shop. Founded in 1808 and originally produced at the Royal Irish Distilleries in Belfast, Dunville was once among the world’s most famous whiskey brands until the distillery fell silent in 1936.

The whiskey and brand were revived successfully by experienced entrepreneur Shane Braniff in 2012.

“Using Dunville’s Three Crowns1808 and Peated whiskeys, we have created a pair of smoky chipotle BBQ sauces that are perfect for anyone looking to add something very special to their next meal,” says Dave.

“The relationship with Dunville is the outcome of my search for a local whiskey to give the sauces a bit of extra flavour.

“I made contact with Echlinville about using their whiskeys and subsequently visited the very impressive distillery to sample some of their award-winning products. Everyone there was extremely supportive. It’s also a great place for a visit to find out more about great whiskeys."

He was attracted in particular to two Dunville premium blended whiskeys – the Three Crowns Peated Blend of selected aged malt and grain whiskeys and the Three Crowns 1808 blend of malt, grain and pot still spirits.

“Dunville also has a tremendous heritage as one of Ireland’s oldest and most successful whiskeys especially in the US before Prohibition.

“It’s exciting to see the whiskey steadily recovering sales there and in other international markets,” he adds.

Dave worked over several months to craft the unique sauces for retail.

“The peated Dunville whiskey added a rich, smoky flavour that enhances the hot chipotle chilli in the sauces,” he explains.

The link up with Echlinville reflects Dave’s longstanding focus on creating hot sauces under his established and successful Rock A Doodle Do - Belfast Hot Sauce business, the aim of which is ”to create combinations of hot sauces for BBQs that are exceptional in quality and taste”.

Apart from the fiery chillies, all the sauces are based mostly on ingredients, from other local traders and include smoked salt and pepper from North Coast Smoke House in Ballycastle and Farmageddon’s Golden Pale Ale from Comber.

An IT professional who has worked in sales and marketing for international industry leaders, Dave combined a passion for hot sauces and heavy metal rock into the sauce business, creating rock music themed sauces.

He had been creating his own red hot sauces for around 30 years, launching the unique Rock A Doodle Do range in 2015. The artisan enterprise, run by Dave on a part-time basis, now has customers in around 30 international markets, mostly through on-line sales. His sauces are also usually on sale at rock gigs around the world involving Snow Patrol in particular.

“I’ve always loved hot sauces, the hotter the better, with my snacks and meals,” explains Dave. “I spent some time in New York and learned a lot about hot sauces especially Carolina Reaper, the world’s hottest chilli pepper. And it now features in many of my sauces.”

His first hot sauce was named after British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.

“The first CD I bought was by the band,” he continues. “While I’ve listened to Iron Maiden for years, there’s a host of other rock bands I enjoy such as Metallica, Blue Oyster Cult and, of course, our own legendary Snow Patrol,” he continues.

His sauces are “not for the faint hearted”. They are sauces with “attitude” and the names he’s chosen for them like ‘Fear the Reaper’, ‘Extreme Reaper’, ‘Banshee’ and ‘Disaster Button’ are warnings to those lovers of mild flavours to stay well clear.

Some of the sauces are even available in skull-shaped bottles for added effect!

The collaboration with Snow Patrol come from an approach from Johnny Quinn, the band’s drummer, who also loves spicy sauces and had heard about Dave’s range.

He adds: “Many bands regularly support charity organisations. Snow Patrol was keen to help the Music for All charity organisation and decided to link up with me to develop sauces that could be sold at gigs to raise money for the charity that provide musical experiences for all, through free lessons, instrument loans and through communities and different educational backgrounds.”