It's just a couple of hours from Dublin and boasts spectacular coastlines, amazing heritage sites and some rather brilliant food & drink producers. We're talking about north county Down and the Ards peninsula, a culinary destination to rival any other on the island of Ireland.

Thanks to a kind invitation from the Irish Food Writers Guild and Visit Ards and North Down, we recently hopped on a whistlestop tour of this beautiful part of the world. In addition to local food markets, farm visits and an incredible walled garden, we took in two different distilleries. And each one laid on a local food pairing for us, perfectly matched with their own Irish spirits.

The first came in courtesy of Copeland Distilery. Located right on the shoreline of Donaghadee, this coastal distillery was built on the grounds of a former cinema. They produce a range of spirits including rum, vodka and Irish whiskey. It was their classic gin that was served to us that day which they distil with local botanicals like pine needles and the sea flower, pink maritima. Copeland's head bartender, Sean Pedlow, mixed up the classic gin into a Collins-style cocktail made with fresh autumnal pears, lemon and elderflower tonic water. The perfect accompaniment to a stunning dish prepared by the guest chefs, Roz Allen and Andy Turner from Hara at Home. This husband and wife team have a remarkable pedigree that has seen them work in Irish Michelin-starred restaurants to 5 star Caribbean hotels. They served up a house-made, beetroot-cured local salmon with apple, wilted fennel and horseradish.

For the second pairing, we made our way to the wonderful Echlinville Distilery in Kircubbin. Home to some of the most celebrated whiskeys in Ireland, such as the exceptional Dunville's - they also distill award-winning gins, vodkas and poitíns. We were truly spoiled by Jarlath Watson from the distillery team as he cracked open a bottle of the Echlinville, The Beginning - their single pot still. Every element of this 7-year-old whiskey was made on site, the barley is grown there before it is fermented, distilled, matured and bottled on the grounds. To help find a pairing for this landmark release, Laura Bradley from the pioneering retail store and delicatessen, Indie Füde. With a location in Comber and another in Belfast, Laura and her team have been unwavering advocates for independent food producers from all around Ireland. She chose to bring along the sumptuous Young Buck cheese, crafted by Mike Thomson of Mike's Fancy Cheese in Newtonards. A divine combo where the spice forward whiskey was tempered perfectly by the rich blue cheese.

We hope you enjoy this episode and a huge thank you again to Visit Ards North Down Tourism for inviting us up and helping us organise this episode.

Oisín & Dee