Every autumn, as Dingle fills with producers, judges, buyers, chefs, writers and food lovers, Ireland’s national food awards become something larger than a competition. Naturally, the awards matter. Attaining a gold, silver or bronze for your product can change the fortunes of a small business. But Blas is also so much more. It’s a community, and a meeting place for those who are part of it. A yearly gathering of people who understand the long hours, uncertain margins and stubborn faith involved in making food and drink.
Artie Clifford is the founder and driving force behind Blas na hÉireann, but describing him only as the person who established the awards misses why they have endured. Blas has his fingerprints on it, and also his personality: open-hearted, practical, instinctively fair and deeply people-oriented. With his daughter Fallon Moore and the rest of their family, they have built an awards programme that is rigorous enough to garner the respect of retailers and producers while retaining the warmth of a community gathering.
“He has a very deep-rooted belief in fairness,” says Moore, event co-ordinator with Blas na hÉireann “He always wants people to be treated fairly.”
That principle runs through Blas, from the judging system to how producers are welcomed into what many now call the Blas family.
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A producer’s idea
Blas began with a producer’s frustration. Clifford was a producer himself, making seafood products. He found that Irish producers seeking recognition often had to look abroad. His question was simple: “Why should Irish food and drink makers have to leave the country to be judged and celebrated?”
He recalls thinking: “Surely there is a way of recognising Irish producers here at home.”
The awards, the first of which took place 19 years ago − big celebrations are planned for the 20th anniversary in 2027 − grew out of Clifford’s work with the Dingle Food Festival. In that inaugural year, there were 36 categories and just over 400 entries. Today, Blas encompasses more than 200 categories and attracts more tha 3,000 entries.
While the awards have grown significantly, the original ethos remains steadfast: to give Irish producers a credible platform. For Clifford, that platform has always been about more than winning. “An award should be more than a piece of glass. It shouldn’t be something that is a job for somebody to polish every once in a while and keep it nice and clean. That’s not what it’s for. It needs to have an impact on the business,” he says.
Florrie Purcell of The Scullery in Tipperary has been attending Blas for 18 years. Her first entries included Christmas pudding and a ham glaze.
Later, after securing a supermarket contract, the stakes became higher. She remembers sitting, waiting for the results, her heart pounding. “When I won, I was just standing there shaking. My hands were shaking. Artie noticed and caught my hand and told me to breathe,” she recalls.
The memory has stayed with her, not simply because of winning that first award, but because it captures what Artie Clifford does. He understands the emotion involved in the day. He knows that, for a small producer, it can represent years of early mornings, late nights and private doubts.
A serious judging system
The integrity of Blas is rooted in its judging methodology, developed with University College Cork, where the majority of the tastings still take place over several weeks during June and July.
The system is founded in food science, sensory analysis and a deliberately clear scoring process. Judges assess products across five areas: appearance; aroma and flavour; texture; overall impression of quality; and mass appeal. “What we’re asking with mass appeal is, ‘Would I put this on the table for family and friends?’ It’s not, ' Would I think this would be successful commercially’,” explains Moore.
Each area is scored from zero to 12. Judges taste independently and do not confer, reducing the possibility of influence or group bias. The five highest-scoring products in each category progress to the final stage, where the gold, silver and bronze awards are determined by the numbers.
The judging panels bring together academic specialists, chefs, industry professionals, home cooks and producers. The result is a system that combines technical expertise with the perspective of people who actually cook, eat, buy and work with food.
Behind that judging system is a substantial logistical operation, which Moore co-ordinates with the Blas team. Samples arrive according to carefully planned tastings, with particular categories grouped in a way that specialist panellists can be present. The process may be complex, but the principles of it are transparent: products are judged on their quality, not on their story reputation, or the size of their business.
That matters to producers such as Wayne Adair from Longbridge Drinks in Belfast, which makes premium mixers, sodas and cordials founded on nostalgia and heritage. He first entered Blas in 2016, after Clifford encouraged him to take part. “We started making drinks in 1999 and had been doing so for almost 17 years, and it had never even crossed my mind to enter anything. I was too busy selling and getting by,” says Adair.
“Our Dark Clove Cordial won gold in its category. It exploded from there. It was in the media, and people contacted us to chat with us about the product and our business. I had never experienced anything like that; the recognition we got and stockists.”
More than an award
The commercial effects of Blas can be significant. Producers report increased sales when finalist or winner labels appear on packaging. Retailers have made space on shelves for award-winning products, while buyers use the awards as a way of identifying trusted, distinctive products.
Florrie Foley explains what the award recognition and weekend in Dingle means: “Your sales do increase. People want to talk to you, and meetings are secured.”
Blas is also a family story. Fallon Moore was involved from the beginning, first as a volunteer, helping with serving and judging before gradually taking on more responsibility. Other family and friends − aka the Blas family – volunteer, taking holidays around the event to erect marquees, lift awards and keep the weekend moving.
Clifford’s principles have made room for others to be seen and are at the heart of Blas na hÉireann, but the awards belong to everyone in the community who returns to Dingle, year after year, carrying a product, hope and a story.
2026 festival highlight
Bon Chocolatiers X Rivescí Collaboration
At this year’s Blas Village, everyone was buzzing about a particular pop-up activation from the 2025 Supreme Champion, Bon Chocolatiers and the 2024 Supreme Champions, Rivescí. Declan Malone and Shannon Forrest brought their 1976 vintage green caravan, Neidín, to Dingle, from where their business began many years ago, and, during the event, launched a new product created in collaboration with Daniel Linehan and Georgia Quealy from Bon Chocolatiers. The “Sweet Heat Bar” was served to the passers-by and received with much excitement.
“The bar has our signature salted caramel but with a twist by adding in Declan’s hot honey,” says Linehan. “You can get that lovely complex honey flavour but with a kick of chilli.
“It was a very collaborative process; Shannon and Declan were involved the whole way through, tasting the bars and giving feedback on the crunchiness, flavour and stretch of the caramel. With Declan’s background as a chef, it was lovely to bounce ideas around together. We’re two Irish businesses, and we really care about what we make and being the last two Supreme Champions made launching it together at Blas particularly special.”
