By Sam Butler
BELFAST businessman Shane Braniff is well on the way to realising his ambition to re-establish one of the city’s historic whiskeys on the global stage.
Shane, who owns Echlinville Distillery, located just outside the tiny village of Kircubbin on picturesque Strangford Lough, and runs it with longstanding friend and business partner Jarlath Watson, has rejuvenated the Dunville’s and Old Comber Irish whiskey brands that disappeared from bars here and across the world almost a century ago. The partners have taken the whiskeys to global success and won a host of international awards for their expertise.
Dunville’s, once among the best-selling Irish whiskeys in the US before spirits were banned there under Prohibition in the Thirties, recently gained an unrivalled 12 awards in the prestigious World Whiskies Awards and its Old Comber was named among Ireland’s top pot still whiskeys. Dunville’s single malt was previously named Ireland’s best in the Irish Whiskey Awards.
Shane says: “These awards are a marvellous boost for us and Dunville’s, the whiskey brand we revived in 2012. The Irish whiskey industry is hugely competitive, and the standard of whiskey being produced gets better every year. To secure three category wins in the highly sought after single malt and single cask categories is a great achievement and testament to the hard work and commitment of our team.
“As proud custodians of the Dunville’s Irish Whiskey brand, we have been on a decade long journey towards restoring ‘The Spirit of Belfast’ to its rightful place among the world’s finest whiskeys.
“Dunville’s has won significant prizes at the World Whiskies Awards every year since 2015,” he adds.
“We are equally delighted that our Old Comber Whiskey received a bronze medal, placing it among Ireland’s best pot still whiskeys.
“For Old Comber to take a podium spot alongside the industry’s biggest pot still brands on its debut at the World Whiskies Awards is a huge achievement.
“One of the original Irish whiskey giants, Old Comber was produced just a few miles from Echlinville at the Comber Distilleries that closed in 1953. We revived the brand in 2021 and are delighted to bring it back to its County Down homeland.”
Echlinville, which now features an impressive visitor centre and café, is Ireland’s only farm to bottle distillery that uses grain from Shane’s family estate. In 2012, it was the second distillery to be developed in Northern Ireland in more than a century.
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