Belfast ArtisanDistillery

Belfast Artisan Distillery was founded in 2017 by Robert Borne and Jo Davison, who set up manufacturing and bottling in a unit at Mallusk Enterprise Park with distiller Ian Perry working the stills. The ground floor holds the production and bottling line; a private bar upstairs is used for tastings and events. The distillery's London Dry Gin is stocked in more than 140 outlets across Northern Ireland, alongside a range of fruit gin liqueurs and a charcoal-filtered vodka made from Irish potatoes. The gin won the 2019 Best Irish Newcomer title and took Silver at the Gin Masters in both 2020 and 2021, plus a Best Northern Irish London Dry Gin award from the World Gin Awards in 2021. The founders later launched a Gin School, first based above the Crown & Shamrock Inn in Newtownabbey, where visitors distil their own bottle from a choice of more than 80 botanicals, alongside a separate distillery tours offering.