'I'm simply trying to add the next chapter': After over 170 years of apple growing Northern Ireland firm creates a modern cider success story

For as long as I can remember, apples have been part of my life.

I’m a sixth-generation grower from Ardress, near Portadown, and my family has been farming apples in Co Armagh since 1855. Growing up, I never imagined doing anything else, but I did believe we could do something different with the fruit we were producing.

That belief eventually became Mac Ivors Cider.

Our family business traditionally grew apples for the fresh market before expanding into Bramley processing for bakeries. It was a successful business, but I always felt there was another opportunity sitting right in front of us.

The inspiration actually came from both sides of my family.

My father, Sammy, was an Armagh apple grower, while my mother, Michele, comes from the south of France, where her family grew grapes for winemaking. As a child, I spent many summers there and discovered what proper cider should taste like.

It wasn't overly sweet or artificially flavoured. It tasted of real fruit.

Back home, I would try the ciders available in Northern Ireland and they just didn't reflect the incredible apples being grown on our doorstep.

I remember thinking: why can't someone make a cider that actually tastes like apples?

That simple question became the starting point for Mac Ivors.

When we launched commercially in 2012, our philosophy was straightforward. Every bottle should showcase the quality of Armagh apples.

Today, each bottle contains the juice of five whole apples. We use fresh-pressed fruit, keep intervention to a minimum and allow each harvest to influence the finished product.

In a market dominated by sweeter, highly carbonated ciders, that approach has given us a genuine point of difference.

People often ask what makes our cider different, but for me the answer is simple: it starts with the orchard.

Everything begins there. We're still based on the same family estate, now home to around 30,000 apple trees producing approximately 12 million apples every year. The orchard remains the heart of everything we do.

In recent years we've also reshaped the wider family business. In 2023, we refocused on three core areas — apple growing, fresh apple packing and Mac Ivors Cider. It was a significant decision after decades of Bramley processing, but it has allowed us to concentrate on what we believe we do best.

As founder, I still wear plenty of hats. Perhaps the most enjoyable is chief cider taster. Before any batch is bottled, canned or kegged, I taste it personally. If it doesn't meet the standard, it doesn't leave the yard.

Consistency matters enormously because every customer expects the same quality every time they buy one of our products.

Our range has expanded over the years to include premium Irish cider and an alcohol-free option, and it's been encouraging to see restaurants increasingly treating cider as something that deserves a place alongside good food rather than simply being seen as a casual drink.

Like every business, we've had our challenges. Covid was probably our toughest test. Before the pandemic, around 60% of our sales came through pubs, bars and restaurants. Almost overnight, between 35% and 40% of our turnover disappeared. There wasn't a magic solution.

We reduced costs where we could, redirected apples into other markets and kept working until hospitality reopened. Thankfully, demand returned strongly and the business is now growing again.

One thing farming teaches you is resilience. You can't control the weather, but you can control how you respond to it. The same applies in business.

One of the biggest milestones in our journey came recently when Mac Ivors secured a place on Lidl Northern Ireland's Kickstart 2026 programme. For an independent family producer, getting onto supermarket shelves is a major opportunity. The programme doesn't just provide retail access; it also offers valuable business support and recognition.

For us, it's another step towards our ambition of becoming Ireland's leading independent cider brand while remaining rooted in Co Armagh.

People sometimes assume success means moving away from your origins, but I see it differently. Our heritage is our biggest strength.

We've been growing apples for more than 170 years, and every generation has built on what came before.

I'm simply trying to add the next chapter.

Looking ahead, there's still huge potential for premium cider made with real fruit and genuine provenance. Consumers increasingly want to know where products come from, how they're made and who is behind them.

Those are stories we're proud to tell because they're authentic.

At the end of the day, we're not trying to be the biggest cider producer. We're trying to make the best cider we can from the apples we've spent generations growing.

Everything starts in the orchard.

If we can continue producing great apples, I'm confident we'll continue making great cider too.