Taste the Island - A Celebration of Ireland's Food and Drink - 2019 Buyers Guide

Take a trip to an Organic Apple Farm and enjoy a Cider and Orchard Spirit (Apple Brandy) tasting www.highbankochards.com T  +353 (0) 56 7729918 Highbank Organic Farm was a 17th century farmyard with the present farm house dating from the 19th Century. Steeped in medieval history the 17th century stone built coachyard with its small distillery offers a backdrop to tasting the organic orchard syrup, juices, organic ciders and apple spirits all produced directly from the orchards. The first apple orchards were planted by the family in 1969, to complement the hop gardens. The fertile Kilkenny limestone soil is uniquely suited to produce delicious apples and apple juice organically. Home to the original and innovative and multi award winning Highbank Orchard Syrup, the farm produces several delicious Apple juices, including their acclaimed non alcoholic Driver’s Cider as well as Highbank Proper Cider and Medieval Cider, matured on wild yeasts with no added sulphites. 2014 brought the addition of Dodonus – the smallest Distillery in Ireland which was built in the old Highbank Dairy and now produces Highbank Organic Apple Spirits – the first Irish and Kilkenny Organic Apple gin known as Highbank Crystal Gin (out of the rocks of Kilkenny), Highbank Orchard Spirit, Highbank Orchard Liqueur Brandy and Highbank Organic Apple Vodka – all this from just apples! Pre booking required at weekends. Visit aWhiskey Distillery www.ballykeefedistillery.ie As the birthplace of IrishWhiskey, the area of Ossary, Kilkenny holds the first written account of distilling in Ireland in 1324, written into the Red Book of Ossory. On the tour, visitors can expect to see up close every step in the process, and have explained the many different aromas and smells at each stage of the distilling process. Many secrets will be revealed by their award winning Master Distiller including how he makes the “cut” to create the ‘’Spirit of Kilkenny’’. Retail therapy with Irish Craft and Artisan Food Producers Kilkenny Design www.kilkennydesign.com Kilkenny Design is part of Kilkenny’s Castle Yard, built in the 1780s by the Butlers, Earls of Ormonde, as the coach houses and stables of historic Kilkenny Castle. Kilkenny DesignWorkshops were also established in the Castle Yard in the 1960s, staffed by bright, young international designers, craftspeople, design graduates and apprentices, the workshop’s remit was to improve design and manufacturing standards in Ireland. Today the Castle Yard is also home to the National Design and Craft Gallery, one of Ireland’s most exciting artistic venues. Kilkenny Design includes a retail store presenting the finest Irish Craft, Design and Artisan Foods for sale as well as offering modern Irish and European cuisine in a self-service café experience upstairs, while their ‘Anocht’ Restaurant (Open Thurs-Sat Evenings) offers a fine dining experience in one of Kilkenny’s most beautiful dining settings, overlooking the Castle, using the best of local ingredients and featuring craft beers and artisanal local spirits. Book a Cheese Making Class Knockdrinna Cheese Farm www.knockdrinna.com Join the team at Knockdrinna Farmhouse in scenic Stoneyford, County Kilkenny for a cheese making course designed to show you how to make cheese at home. A fun day of making and tasting cheese, as well as a tour of the award winning Knockdrinna Cheese Making Facility. (Available for Pre-Booked groups) 173 SECT ION 15 – 24 HOUR CI TY FOOD & DRINK IMMERS ION