The Irish have another Golden Fork winner at the Great Taste Awards, one of the world’s most coveted food awards celebrating the very best in food and drink. Hugh Maguire Butchers from Ashtown in Co Meath has taken the top award for its smoked black pudding, beating competition from 12,366 other products.

The top honour of Great Taste Supreme Champion celebrates this traditional black pudding which is smoked over beech wood chippings for 45 minutes and has a “gentle pepper warmth, saliva-inducing aroma and careful use of smoke, which whooshes across the tongue and works in perfect harmony”, according to the finest critics in the food industry.

Most impressively, this isn’t a taste that Hugh and the team have been perfecting over time. The smoked black pudding has only been produced for eight months but it is sure to have a very bright future, given this prestigious accolade.

The Great Taste Golden Fork Award Dinner was held on Monday night at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel and other winners include SuperValu for its lamb leg with garlic and rosemary and Artisan Beech Smoked Salmon from Wexford-based Ballyhack Smokehouse.

Hugh Maguire follows Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers and Peter Hannan of Hannan Meats in winning the prestigious accolade. Irish Country Living will have more coverage of the Great Taste winners in the coming weeks.