Burren Smokehouse 30 years in business

Celebrates 30 years in business

There’s no place quite like the Burren and there are few tastes quite like those that come from the Burren. The Burren Smokehouse is proof of that with its delicious smoked Irish organic salmon, which has been eaten by some of the most prominent figures in the world, including Queen Elizabeth II at a State Dinner in May 2011 and, most recently, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, who paid a visit to the popular visitor centre on May 24.

“That’s a big deal and a great honour for myself, personally, coming from Sweden,” said the Swedish owner-manager of the Smokehouse, Birgitta Hedin Curtin, who is also chairperson of the Burren Food Trail and one of the most influential women in the Irish seafood world.

Royal visitors aside, the people that really make an impact on the Burren Smokehouse are the thousands and thousands of tourists and locals who visit the visitor centre every year. And, with the Smokehouse currently celebrating 30 years in business, that’s a lot of people.

Based in the beautiful town of Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, the Burren Smokehouse gives visitors a unique tasting experience that simply isn’t available anywhere else. Visitors enter the smokehouse and are treated to a delicious helping of smoked Irish organic salmon before watching a short film about the smoking process and taking a tour around the centre where they’ll get to see the ovens and learn about the unique taste that has kept this smokehouse going for three decades.

“The inspiration for the Burren Smokehouse came from my own home,” said Birgitta, as she recalled the initial setting up of the business with her husband, Peter.

“I used to fish for eel with my father and we would get it smoked in the local fisherman’s smokehouse. It was a small operation. So that’s where the idea came from and we wanted to start selling smoked fish as an alternative craft. We wanted to showcase Irish products, Irish salmon, Irish trout, Irish mackerel and Irish eel to the people that pass through the landscape in the Burren and Cliffs of Moher.”

And it has certainly paid off for the duo as the business has come through the Celtic Tiger, the crash of that same Celtic Tiger and plenty of other challenges besides. But as Birgitta correctly put it: “Food is something that people need. And good food, really high-quality food... that in itself has longevity.”

There have been a lot of changes in the Burren food scene over the past three decades and Birgitta and Peter are thrilled to have watched the industry develop and grow in ways they could never have imagined.

“Being involved in food communities in Ireland and seeing the Irish food industry being enriched has been great. There’s been a lot of development and seeing the local communities thriving with increased visitors and a high-end quality of tourism, has been amazing,” said Birgitta.

In those 30 years, Birgitta’s husband, Peter, has also ventured into the micro-brewery scene, setting up the Burren Brewery in the Roadside Tavern,

Lisdoonvarna, back in 2011. Since then, he has created a range of unique craft beers that can only be tasted as part of the Burren experience.

The most recent addition to the Burren Brewery is Euphoria, which could quite possibly be one of the most unique and interesting craft beers on the Irish market.

“It’s a wild yeast craft beer that is served exclusively in the Roadside Tavern and the Burren Storehouse next door,” Birgitta explained. “And it’s wild yeast from the Burren. It’s a very unique product and you have to come to Lisdoonvarna to experience it because we don’t distribute it. It’s a very unique experience.”

The beer is unique in that it is made without the help of hops. In fact, Peter went out into the Burren and collected wild yeast from the air, which was then combined with six different herbs gathered by herbalist, Lisa Guinan. This happy beer got its name, Euphoria, from the mildly euphoric effect it can have on those who drink it.