Fiona keen to welcome visitors ready to learn about distilling

The couple were among the first here to invest in a purpose-build visitor centre and to pioneer a programme of tours and events at their picturesque Rademon Estate Distillery at Crossgar in Down.

“We are delighted to welcome individual visitors and to introduce tours again over the past few days,” Fiona says. “We’re believe that visits to the distillery will appeal in particular to staycationers seeking a different experience over the rest of the summer and into the autumn and winter. Our tours were immensely popular before the pandemic.”

The eye-catching distillery, its shiny copper stills and piping attracted thousands of visitors before the pandemic shutdown. It now features two interesting ‘experiences’ that enable visitors to learn how the spirits are distilled and sample them. They are able to enjoy a multi-sensory walk to the rolling river, a peaceful place that’s alive with scents and sounds. They can breathe deeply and enjoy the botanicals - wild clover, elderflower, elderberries and apples - foraged by the distillery’s founders for distinctive flavours.

The distillery is set in one of the oldest family-owned estates in Ireland, spanning over 500 acres of lush green forests, the home to thousands of species of flora and fauna, with a house that’s rich with history and originally built in 1604.  An obelisk, 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 and pioneer of the British working-class movement for political reform in the 1800s.

The distillery was launched in 2012 by Fiona, the managing director, and David, the master distiller behind the recipes for the gins and the whole distilling process. 

The recent reopening of the distillery to visitors coincides with a major drive by the Irish Whiskey Association (IWA) in Dublin to revive interest in the historic industry among tourists and holidaymakers. This includes a quirky Irish Whiskey Passport that visitors can have stamped by some distilleries in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

While four local distilleries are included in the novel all-Ireland promotional scheme, only two have reopened to visitors to date. They are Rademon and Hinch, near Ballynahinch in Co Down. Old Bushmills in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland’s iconic and leading whiskey distiller, and Echlinville, near Kircubbin, home of the historic Dunville Irish Whiskey and Jawbox Gin, remain closed to the public.

Visitors to both Shortcross and Hinch are assured a safe environment that adheres strictly to social distancing and hand sanitising rules. Tours are also limited to smaller numbers than was previously the case and all must be booked in advance.

“Our visitor centre, tours and special events, including the jazz sessions in our patio outside the distillery, had become an important part of our business before the pandemic,” Fiona continues. “We enjoyed briefing local visitors and tourists from many parts of the world about the distillery, our products and the wider estate which is such an integral part of our business. Herbs from our unique walled garden and water from the estate’s well mean we have total control over most of the essential requirements for the spirits.

Irish whiskey distilleries attracted over one million visitors in 2019, 87% of whom were from overseas, making Irish whiskey distilleries an important part of the tourism industries of Northern Ireland and the Republic. It’s our aim to revive this part of our contribution to the wellbeing of the local economy. We have also long contributed to exports through our overseas sales to around 30 international markets.

“Irish whiskey visitor centres are not just for whiskey fans – they offer a cultural and historical experience, where visitors can learn about how whiskey - and Irish gin – are made, the history of the local area, taste whiskey and sample local cuisine. The visitor centre at Rademon displays Irish photographer Patricia Pyne’s county Down dolmens and scenes from season five of Game of Thrones that were filmed there in 2015.  Guests can enjoy some snippets from the eight weeks of filming at Rademon.

Unlike any other distillery experience in Ireland, visitors are greeted by joint founder David-Boyd Armstrong. Included is an exclusive, behind the scenes look at the distillery and the precise, by-hand processes that make Shortcross Gin an award winning spirit. They will also be briefed about the new single malt Irish whiskey.

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