This family ploughed a lonely furrow for years, selling an unfashionable breakfast, Progress Oatlets and keeping generations of Irish families in free tea towels. A young whippersnapper came up to me the other day tried to push some other brand of oats on me. I can’t even remember the name. I sent him off with his tea in a mug and a flea in his ear. I told him I was Flahavans til I die. These people kept porridge on the market when fashionable types likened it to gruel and were content to eat a thing called muesli, that had the look and taste of something that you’d sweep out of a pigeon loft.
Porridge has transpired to be the health food du jour and I for one will be rewarding the Flahavans for their persistence in the lean years with my continued and loyal custom.
A loyal customer of Flahavans myself Fagan. I never leave the house without a bowl of it.
I nominate Red Setter Baling twine. Tried and trusted and no fuss. You couldnt break it if you tried. I went cleaing out sheds a few weeks ago and there was bags and bags of ould twine in perfect condition. Often used as an able replacement for a hasp on gate, a belt on an ould fella trousers or a make ship collar for a sheep dog. God bless you Red Setter.
Twine for a hasp on a gate. I haven’t a clue what’s going on there but it sounds tremendously rural altogether.
Flahavans is a very good shout. I’d like to nominate McCambridge’s brown bread. Plenty of imitation (famously from Brennan’s of course) but nobody produces brown bread of the consistent quality that McCambridge’s do - at least nobody mass producing it does anyway.
And their packaging - that resealable design is so simple but so effective. Funny seeing other breads and cheeses coming up with convoluted ways to reseal a packet. Their design is perfect.
Red Setter baling twine and McCambridges are fine shouts. I’d also have to give a shout out here to Clonakilty pudding both black and white. When you experience the shite that the likes of Denny and Galtee pass off as breakfast meats you really have to acknowledge the contribution that Clonakilty are making to the art of the blood sausage.
Glenisk make far and away the nicest yogurts in Ireland, They are totally organic and still fairly reasonably priced. They buy up something like 75% of all the organic milk produced in Ireland.
It’s great tack altogether and can’t speak highly enough of it.
I’d like to nominate Tayto. Arguably the most iconic Irish brand of them all, and an essential element of pretty much every significant childhood occasion, including communions, birthdays, school parties, marts, days in the bog, post-county final celebrations and countless more.
Winmau. The world’s top manufacturer of darts equipment for as long as anybody can remember, and the longest-running sponsor of any major darts tournament. Real darts people.
You’re always assured of the very best quality when you buy a Winmau board, which is why I’ve always used one.
The Winmau Blade 4 utilises a revolutionary new wiring system that dramatically reduces bounce outs and provides the opportunity for maximum scoring potential. It’s predecessor, the Blade 3, set the standard as the World’s finest staple-free dartboard and the Blade 4 has taken this to a completely new level. The DSW (Dynamic Sector Wire) is now over 50% thinner for best-in-class performance and optimum scoring possibilities. This unique wiring system is constructed from a hi-tech, ultra strong material that is designed to deflect the darts into the target area. The advanced molecular structure of the high tensile steel facilitates total accuracy right across the whole playing surface, whilst lasting even longer.
