Handmade butter is produced by Abernethy Butter in Dromara, County Down, and sold in upscale eateries and upscale supermarkets like Fortnum & Mason. Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson is quoted as saying that the black garlic butter "may be the best thing I have ever eaten or will ever eat" on the company website.

The products have received several awards, including those from the Irish Food Awards and the UK's Great Taste Awards. Selling agent Tim Martin referred to the company as a “premier artisan business” in his advertisements for the sale of the business.

The firm, which the brokers claimed was being sold because the proprietors were retiring, has no stated asking price.

Many Michelin-starred restaurants in Ireland and the UK, as well as some of the most upscale food merchants in the UK, patronise the company, they continued.

According to them, “The business is standalone or can be easily incorporated into a wide range of established artisan businesses to enhance their existing clientele and outlets.”

Will and Allison Abernethy, a married couple, have been running the company for around 17 years.

Traditional, slower-than-mass-production processes, are used to making their butter.

Hand-churned butter is flattened into recognisable lined rolls and then wrapped in greaseproof and brown paper with the recognisable Abernethy Butter brand mark.

When a chef at Heston Blumenthal's renowned Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, England, requested a new butter supply, the two stepped in and began their adventure into elite dining establishments.

Allison gave a history of the company in a 2016 interview with the Belfast Telegraph.

“My father Norman Kerr had an interest in butter-churning as a hobby and he used to go around the agricultural and vintage shows to demonstrate it,” she explains.

Allison quit her job as a nurse during the day to work full-time with Will in the dairy business after the company saw success with Heston. Other chefs, such as Marcus Wareing from MasterChef and Michael Deane who is located closer to home, followed Heston in stocking the product.

Mr. Deane admitted to continuing using the product to the Belfast Telegraph. It is an expensive product, but Will Abernethy explained that he handmakes it himself which adds to the price.

“Allison is a great woman for promoting Northern Ireland cuisine, and we have to support those kinds of businesses.”

Abernethy Butter, he claimed, was not utilised in all four of his establishments since it was a luxury item. However, we do use it and make an effort to support all our nearby companies as much as we can.