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RTÉ News
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Irish in culinary and drinks world celebrated in new film
The writer-director of a new film about the work of the Irish in the culinary and drinks world has told RTÉ Entertainment he wanted to show international audiences that there was more to his home country than just stereotypes. Carlow filmmaker Frank Mannion's latest documentary is A Sip of Irish, having previously made Quintessentially Irish and Quintessentially British. "I wanted to make a film that would appeal primarily to an international audience who think of Ireland as just the land of Guinness and Irish stew," Mannion told RTÉ Entertainment. "Since the time of Brian Boru, we have often been stereotyped as a nation of big drinkers. But the irony is that our alcohol consumption has been declining for over two decades - just as our drinks exports have been steadily increasing. "Instead of filming at obvious locations like the Guinness Storehouse, we highlight the craftsmanship of artisan brands like Killahora Orchards in Co Cork, where celebrity chef Anna Haugh raves about its Rare Apple Ice Wine, and Kinnegar Brewing in Letterkenny. Pat Shortt told us that its draught Scraggy Bay IPA is his favourite tipple." "I interviewed Deirdre O'Carroll, the very talented blender of Redbreast, Midleton, and Jameson whiskeys," Mannion continued. "Her interest in the intricacies of whiskey-making was sparked by an innocuous-sounding university module - at University College Cork - called Cereals and Related Beverages. "Jameson sells tens of millions of bottles a year but has historically always faced stiff competition, especially when Prohibition decimated (sic) the local Irish industry. "Almost 100 years later, let's hope that Deirdre and the whiskey industry ride the storm of the tariffs being imposed by the world's most powerful non-drinker, President Trump." When asked for what had surprised him during the making of his film, Mannion said: "I was surprised to learn about the Wine Geese, the dynamic Irish emigrants who became hugely successful in the wine world in Bordeaux, Napa Valley, and Australia. "The Lynch family who gave their name to the world-renowned Château Lynch-Bages were from Galway. "In fact, an 'Irish wine' was the first into space: a 1975 half-bottle of Lynch-Bages made it onboard the Discovery space shuttle, making it the world's most travelled wine bottle. "That bottle is now in the possession of Kinou Cazes Hachemian, the owner of Lynch-Bages. Sadly, I couldn't persuade her to open it for A Sip of Irish. She did claim that it was out of this world!" "I was surprised to learn that what we think of as Irish is not Irish in origin," he added. "Bailey's Irish Cream was invented by a British team led by a South African in London, partly to reduce Ireland's excess dairy production. "I also learned that when Russell Crowe was filming The Pope's Exorcist in Ireland, he came across the village of Muff in Donegal - one of our A Sip of Irish filming locations. He loved Muff Liquor's gin and vodka so much that he invested in the company and brought fellow musicians Ed Sheeran and Ronan Keating on board too."
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
A Sip of Irish review – knocking it back around the world in the diaspora of drink
The always likable figure of Irish producer and film-maker Frank Mannion has, in the past, given us a cordial guide to champagne, a slightly more chaotic essay on Britishness, and its counterpart on Irishness. Now, in his cheerfully celebratory and slightly corporate-promo way, he has made a film about Irish viticulture and drink in general, which means not simply wineries, breweries and distilleries actually in Ireland, but also abroad: this is about drinks producers with an Irish background, such as Hennessy brandy, which has an obvious Irish ancestry. It's what this film calls 'an Irish drink in a French terroir' – or, in fact, a terroir anywhere in the world, meaning places in Europe, the US and occasionally Australia and New Zealand. The film even jauntily insists that Ireland invented whiskey before Scotland. Prince Albert II of Monaco is interviewed about his love of Irish viticulture and the importance of his mother, Grace Kelly, one of the Kellys of County Mayo. The chief interviewee, however, is the amiable Oz Clarke, himself of Irish heritage, who beamingly descants on how great Irish wine is. This is a film that is genially untroubled and unproblematic in its approach; the issue of, say, the homogenisation and industrialisation of wine production that, a generation ago, worried film-maker Jonathan Nossiter in his 2004 film Mondovino, is absent. Mannion and his interviewees are content to simply find a range of nuances and differences, although the garrulous tone of Mannion's film is not so far from Rossiter's. The most startling moments of the film come when he visits the Baileys farm in County Wicklow, whose proprietor talks about the cows who produce the raw material for Baileys Irish Cream: his 230 'ladies'. This will be an acquired taste, perhaps. A Sip of Irish is in UK and Irish cinemas from 20 June.
Irish Post
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
A cinematic toast to Ireland's culinary and drinks legacy
A SIP OF IRISH, written and directed by Frank Mannion, will be released in UK cinemas on June 20th. The Swipe film production celebrates the story of Ireland's contribution to the culinary and drinks world with some unexpected discoveries along the way. It features Deirdre O'Carroll the blender of Jameson whiskey, publican Oisin Rogers and chef JR Ryall of Ballymaloe, as well as appearances from Michael Flatley, Anna Haugh, Bo Barrett of Napa Valley's Chateau Montelena, Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill (the Omagh-born actor and star of Jurassic Park and Peaky Blinders) Pat Shortt, Laura Whitmore, Una Healy and even Prince Albert of Monaco (a big whiskey lover). Frank Mannion and Oxana Popkova clink glasses at Hennessy The Donegal-based Muff Liquor Co., in which Russell Crowe is an investor, is also featured and there are insights from wine writer Oz Clarke. The documentary was filmed locally in London at the Devonshire in Soho as well as in the South Downs (at Dermot Sugrue's wine estate), Killahora Orchards, Ballyfin and Ballymaloe. Midleton Distillery in Cork also made an appearance — as did substantial footage from The Irish Post Awards 2024, which Michael Flatley, Laura Whitmore and Una Healy all attended. Frank Mannion samples a Ballyfin Green Cocktail The film also has a chapter about the Wine Geese, so parts of the footage were filmed at the Medoc Marathon — known as the world's slowest marathon as there are 23 wine stops). Frank Mannion told The Irish Post: ''Irish wine' is served as the marathon runners pass through Chateau MacCarthy, Lynch Bages and Phelan Segur - Thomas Lynch the founder was from Galway and Bernard Phelan was from Tipperary, so it's a marathon that is very Irish in spirit.' Deirdre O'Carroll is blender at Midleton Distillery Frank Mannion CV Frank Mannion is an Irish film producer and director based in London. He is the founder and managing director of Swipe Films, an award-winning production, sales, and distribution company established in 2002. Mannion has produced or executive produced several films, including Grand Theft Parsons, Jackboots on Whitehall, and Plastic. He holds an LL.B. from Trinity College Dublin, an LL.M. from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and a PhD in Film Distribution from Birmingham City University, where he is also a Senior Lecturer in entrepreneurship and film. Swipe Films has built a library of over 25 films, winning more than 100 awards at major festivals worldwide, including Cannes and Sundance. The company has also ventured into virtual reality production, creating the world's first VR trailer app for an independent film. See More: A Sip Of Irish, Frank Mannion
