Kerrygold butter is as much a part of Ireland as Guinness or potatoes, and it is just 55 years since the Irish butter brand was launched.

Sir Anthony O’Reilly was the man behind the butter. He wanted to create a premium brand which would tingle our taste buds and be true to the rich quality of Irish milk. This ambition originated in 1962 when Sir Anthony O’Reilly was chief executive of An Bord Bainne, which is now known as Ornua.

Ironically, Kerrygold was not launched in Ireland but in Manchester in October 1962. Two years later, it began to be exported overseas but was still not available to buy in Ireland until 1973. Kerrygold’s marketing campaign for the Irish butter brand quickly became a huge talking point from when it first hit our TV screens in 1994, with the prominent commercial “Who’s taking the horse to France?”

Since those early days, Kerrygold has expanded its business into the area of cheese production and continues to thrive in the market, with a focus on quality and natural grass-fed milk production.

Last year, over 350m retail packs of Kerrygold were sold globally across 90 countries.

The butter wrapped in the iconic golden foil is the most branded butter in the United States and Germany, the most imported butter brand and the third overall butter brand.

Ornua’s recent €38m investment of in the Mitchelstown butter plant (pictured) opened in September 2016 is intended to carry Kerrygold into the future.

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From the archive: launch of the Kerrygold brand

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