Greg MacNeice’s family has been growing apples in Co Armagh since 1855. For generations, the business followed the traditional apple growers’ path. It grew fruit, supplied the fresh market and, later, processed Bramleys for bakeries.
But MacNeice, a sixth-generation grower from Ardress near Portadown, had big ambitions culminating in Mac Ivors Cider, the independent drinks brand he launched commercially in 2012.
His creation recently secured a place on Lidl Northern Ireland’s Kickstart 2026 programme – a business development programme, backed by Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (NIFDA) and designed to support small and medium sized suppliers onto supermarket shelves. The listing is a notable step for a business with deep roots in one of Northern Ireland’s strongest food traditions and a clear focus on turning that heritage into a modern consumer brand.
MacNeice (54) grew up between two food cultures. His father, Sammy, was an Armagh apple grower, while his French mother, Michele, came from a family that grew grapes for winemaking in the south of France. During childhood trips to France, MacNeice first tasted cider made properly from fresh-pressed fruit and it left a lasting impression.
Back in Northern Ireland, he felt the ciders on shop shelves didn’t reflect the standard of apples being grown around him. “None of the cider that I tasted seemed to represent the quality of the apples that were growing in the region,” he said. That gap became his opportunity and Mac Ivors was built on the simple premise that cider should taste of apples.
“Each bottle contains the juice of five whole Armagh apples,” he said. “The company uses fresh-pressed fruit and keeps intervention low, letting the crop shape the product.” It’s a straightforward proposition, but a commercially useful one. In a category often dominated by sweeter, more heavily carbonated drinks, Mac Ivors has given itself a clear point of difference.
The company is still based on the family estate at Ardress, now home to 30,000 apple trees and producing around 12 million apples a year, with cider now making up around half of the business. That shift has been part of a broader restructuring.
In 2023, the family company refocused on apple growing, fresh apple packing and Mac Ivors Cider, after decades in which Bramley processing for bakeries had also been part of the operation. MacNeice’s role in the cider business is practical, as well as strategic, and he remains the company’s chief cider taster.
Before any batch is bottled, canned or kegged, he tastes it himself. “If it doesn’t meet the standard, it doesn’t go out,” he said. “Consistency of the product has been really important to me.”
The business produces premium Irish independent cider, as well as an alcohol-free option, and MacNeice said restaurants are increasingly treating that cider as a drink that belongs with food. The company also showed resilience in the face of Covid-19. Before the pandemic, around 60% of Mac Ivors sales went into the on-trade. When hospitality closed, MacNeice said between 35% and 40% of turnover disappeared almost overnight.
“The business got through it by cutting costs, redirecting apples into other markets and rebuilding as demand returned,” he said, adding that growth is “now strong again”.
MacNeice is grateful for the Kickstart opportunity with Lidl, which has chosen to back a Northern Ireland supplier with heritage, product innovation and growth potential. Not only will it give Mac Ivors a wider retail platform, it will also help the company further its ambition to establish itself as Ireland’s leading independent cider brand.
MacNeice said the logic behind the business will never change. “Everything starts in the orchard,” he said.“If we can grow great apples, we can make great cider.”