19/08/2014
By John Ross Jr

East Clandon-based artisan smoked salmon producer, John Ross Jr (Aberdeen) Ltd, has been awarded the prestigious Gold Star by The Guild of Fine Food as part of the Great Taste Awards 2014.

The artisan smoked salmon producer, which uses traditional brick kilns dating back to 1857, scooped the prestigious accolade for its Whisky Smoked Salmon after a national judging panel of 12 people nominated the speciality cured product.

John Ross Jr’s Whisky Smoked Salmon was one of 10,000 products to enter this year’s awards, which were judged by a revered panel of foodies including Masterchef judge and restaurant critic, Charles Champion, BBC Food Programme presenter Sheila Dillon and buyers from Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges.

West Clandon resident and John Ross Jr’s Founding Chairman, Andrew Leigh, comments: “The Great Taste Awards has to be one of the food industry’s benchmarking award schemes and it’s always a pleasure to receive a Gold Star. We’ve been producing smoked salmon using time-honoured techniques for almost three decades and our commitment to creating a superior product remains as strong as it was the day we opened our doors. It’s great to be recognised by The Guild and we look forward to building our international reputation as an artisan producer.”

Andrew founded the smokehouse, which holds a Royal Warrant and supplies the Royal Network of Kitchens, in 1987. It now exports to restaurants, hotels and supermarkets in 36 countries worldwide.

John Ross Jr’s Whisky Smoked Salmon builds on the delicately smoked flavour of the traditional smoked salmon. The whisky infusion delivers a more rounded yet subtle sweetness to the flavour and takes the art of smoking to the next level.

For more information on John Ross Jr visit www.johnrossjr.com.