“THANK YOU ECHLINVILLE” – ten in a row
It was back in 2016 that we were delighted to announce our first “back of shirt” sponsorship package with the The Echlinville Distillery based just outside Kircubbin on the Ards Peninsula.
Now in 2025, we are even more delighted, and immensely proud, to announce that Echlinville Distillery is continuing that unique and historically-linked sponsorship for a TENTH season with the iconic “Dunville’s” brand on the back of our first team kits for the season ahead.
Since that initial sponsorship announcement, owner Shane Braniff and his team have taken Echlinville and its various brands on a multi-award winning journey across the globe with the distillery site itself transformed from our visits in those early formative years.
One name that stands out in the world of whiskey, and the history of this club, is “Dunville’s”.
It was back in 1880 that our famous club was formed by employees of Dunville’s and thankfully Shane and Echlinville became the proud custodians of the iconic brand, achieving their founding goal of bringing “The Spirit of Belfast” back to the world and restoring it to its place among the world’s best whiskeys.
Back in November 2024 the excellence of the Echlinville Distillery was further strengthened when it won an unprecedented 11 awards at the Irish whiskey industry’s biggest awards ceremony.
Dunville’s was the winner in no less than seven categories and on a wonderful evening Dunville’s 21 Year Old Palo Cortado Sherry Cask Finish won the overall Whiskey Of The Year title.
The ‘Dunville’s Irish Whiskey’ brand has now appeared on the back of the first team kit, re-kindling that special link to the club’s roots, since 2019.
“On behalf of the entire club and its supporters, I would like to thank Shane and his team at Echlinville for their magnificent long-term and on-going support” said club director Terry Thompson. “From 2016 we have been delighted to watch Echlinville and Dunville’s go from strength to strength in terms of consistently winning world awards for their range of top quality products.
We are genuinely delighted to see this unique historical link continue and take great pride in having “Dunville’s Irish Whiskey” on our shirts There cannot be many, if any, whiskey distilleries in the world, or indeed other businesses, that actually formed their own football club not far short of 145 years ago and it still survives today. When you add in the fact that Distillery went on to play Benfica, and Barcelona, you will understand why the unique historical-link is so important. And, we are delighted to be a living-part of Dunville’s history after all those years.
Thank you Shane for your backing, interest, encouragement and recognition of that unique historical link and your much valued-friendship to us all here at the club.”
You can find further information on Dunville’s and Echlinville here;
Dunville’s – “The Spirit of Belfast” (https://dunvilleswhiskey.com/whiskeys/)
Echlinville Distillery (https://echlinville.com/)
Contact: 028 4273 8597 / info@echlinville.com
Check out their Facebook page for further details: https://www.facebook.com/dunvilleswhiskey
