Mac Ivors Cider from Northern Ireland launches in France
Article written by Sam Butler
Mac Ivors Cider, one of Ireland’s leading craft cider producers, launched its award winning Traditional Dry Cider in Paris during the recent St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
The county Armagh based cider producer, which sells its cider through 1,000 outlets in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland gave Paris a taste of Armagh’s famous apples.
Pallets of Traditional Dry arrived a few weeks ago with French distributor C-Bev which will be importing and distributing the dry cider to wholesalers all over France.
To mark its arrival for St Patrick’s Day, a tasting event was hosted in WH Smith in Paris close to Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre.
Lucie Niffle, of C-Bev, who hosted the tasting, said: “This is so exciting now to have Mac Ivors Traditional Dry here in Paris for a launch especially on St Patrick’s Day. This Irish cider tastes great and is so popular in Ireland so this is a perfect time for us to launch.
“WH Smith is the biggest and oldest English bookstore in Paris. They have a grocery shop dedicated to UK and Ireland products and have just opened a new tearoom for brunch and lunch. This store is very much appreciated by the Parisian people who will no doubt also greatly appreciate Mac Ivors Traditional Dry which is now available for purchase in the grocery area and the restaurant.
“This is very exciting for people in France as the apples in Armagh are world famous and now we can taste this fantastic product here in France.”
Greg MacNeice, the cider maker and fifth generation apple grower, said: “We had a great week because our launch in Paris came days after we were awarded three gold medals in the International Cider and Brewing awards 2017.
“My mum is French and we used to drink gorgeous French cidre when I was growing up and I couldn’t understand, what with all the gorgeous apples here in Armagh, why we didn’t have an equivalent.
“And we are now bringing our great cider to France where my relatives will be loving how we are sharing our heritage.”
