Gifted By Nature Flavoured By Achill Island Crafted By Calvey’s
So many people ask Where is Achill Island? and What’s different about it?
Achill Island is the largest island off the coast of Ireland, and is situated off its west coast. Attached to the mainland by bridge, visitor are struck by its breathtaking views, beautiful clean beaches and majestic mountains.
What is different about it is that, as Achill Island people we have so many stories to tell. That every family has contributed in their own tin pot way to the story of Achill Island and the story of how so many people contributed is what makes us different. Everyone has a story to tell. We tell our own story and this is our story, the story of Calvey’s – in bite size pieces.
Because we’ve been producing and crafting Achill Lamb products for the last 55 years doesn’t mean everything has changed. We are still the Farm, Abattoir & Butchers, raising our Mayo Blackface Mountain Lambs in the same in-tandum-with-nature-way. In our abattoir it’s certainly not the quick rush-through as in more commercial abattoirs. We spend time still doing the jobs the hard-work-way, sometimes backbreaking and always by hand.
Still removing the hide by hand is craftwork in itself. We cut and craft the lamb meat in the same old fashioned way using the well worn sharpened knife and the 52 year old hand saw. Hand crafting is the work of two gifted hands no different to the sculptor who has an eye for perfection & dedication reflected in the precise attention to detail. A Master Crafter and a Masterpiece. Calvey’s are Master Crafters and Achill Mountain Lamb is our Masterpiece.
Achill Mountain Lamb butchered carccass from Calvey’s is naturally special and distinctive. We are a large family including female farmers who for seven generations have been herding Mayo Blackface Mountain Sheep on Achill Island in Co. Mayo producing Mayo Blackface Mountain Lambs. Since 1962 Calvey’s have also been slaughtering and butchering their blackface lambs in our own Abattoir & Butchery on Achill Island. In 1962 Martin Calvey’s Achill Lamb products first came to market.
What Calvey’s do today, uniquely remains unchanged. When our mountain lamb is ready it is expertly selected utilising The Calvey Family’s 55 years of expertise. It is then slaughtered, butchered and hand crafted on Achill Island in our own Abattoir & Butchers in Keel, Achill Island Co. Mayo using the same craft work, artisan traditions and specialised skills passed on down through generations. There is only one licensed abattoir on Achill Island and it is on the Calvey Family Farm who are also uniquely ‘The Specialist Achill Lamb Craft Butchers’.
These are unique points of distinction between Achill Lamb products and any other lamb meat available on the market today. Our Achill Lamb comes with Calveys Guarantee of 100% Full Achill Island Traceability. This means slaughtering butchering and hand-crafting take place on Achill Island at Calvey’s Abattoir & Butchers. Everything from selecting our natural raw material, the Mayo Blackface Mountain Lamb, to dispatching our packed labelled crafted product Achill Mountain Lamb butchered carcasses to you, every step in the Chain Of Traceability is directly traceable to Achill Island. Calvey’s are truly an Achill Island-based business protecting & growing Achill Island-based jobs.
We have compiled a lovely and useful illustrated Achill Mountain Lamb Booklet with user friendly recipes and a rich variety of information about Achill Island, Our People, Our Place, Our Product. This gift to you helps ensure your family enjoys a Genuine Achill Island Experience when you buy Calvey’s Achill Mountain Lamb. Why we do it this way is moulded and shaped by Calvey’s core values, our four cornerstones :
- Calvey’s
- Genuine
- Artisan
- Tradition
In that way we wrap your Achill Lamb products with Achill-ness which includes a unique guarantee of 100% Achill Island Traceability exclusive from Calvey’s. This gives our lamb it’s Gold Halo for which Calvey’s are rightly proud. It is Genuinely everything Achill Island and everything Calvey’s wrapped up in a box.
‘Achill Mountain Lamb meat – The Gold Halo Lamb Meat’
