I’m from Knock in Co Mayo. I finished my degree in biomedical engineering in NUI Galway back in June. The job market was kind of closed then due to the lockdown. It’s been that way since. The job markets in the area haven’t really opened up fully. Normally, the graduation rate into jobs from the course would be around 96% to 97%.
Daniel McKittrick with his Nollaig Nog.
I had a lot of spare time just hanging about the place. Coming into winter, I was still applying for quite a few jobs. Nothing had come to fruition, because they seem to be holding a lot of the contracts off until there’s a little bit more security in the job market.
During this time, I had an idea to keep myself busy. Why don’t I set up a small company myself? See how it goes. This way, it keeps me busy and it’s rewarding too.
We’ve always had eggnog in the house that mum or I would make as a Christmas drink whenever we’d have visitors over. And they were always commenting on how lovely it was, saying it was something they’d never tried before.
I registered with the HSE to produce the food in our own kitchen here
I was talking to one of our cousins actually, who wanted to get a bottle sent down to them, because obviously they can’t travel up. So I had the idea, would this be something that’s marketable? Nollaig Nog started coming together around the end of September/start of October. It’s bottled eggnog.
I registered with the HSE to produce the food in our own kitchen here. I got the website, packaging, bottles and all that craic sorted.
I decided to put in a bit of commitment to sustainability as I’m doing it, because if I’m setting up a business, even if it’s small, I wanted to ensure whatever I’m producing is being done so ethically and sustainably.
All the bottles I use are PET (polyethylene terephthalate) grade 1 recyclable and all the labels are the same. The boxes it’s being shipped in are donated by local companies which otherwise would be recycling them.
At the minute I’m only selling online, but I’ve been in touch with a few places to see would they take in product
It’s all been a learning curve and it’s been really interesting. In terms of biomedical engineering it linked in that I’m well used to dealing with regulations and compliance, so that was a fairly easy space to move into.
At the minute I’m only selling online, but I’ve been in touch with a few places to see would they take in product. Now, nothing has happened as of yet, but I want to see if I can crack into the supermarket chain. Some people may not be that tech-savvy and other, may not want to order over the internet. It would make more sense to have it locally in a store.
All the bottles we send out have a shelf life of roughly five days after it arrives, so during that time they need to be refrigerated and kept cool.
Family secrets
I always baked in the house – cakes and that kind of stuff. It always interested me, but it was never something I considered as a career path. It was something that was a hobby. I’m fairly used to putting the oven mitts on, testing stuff and messing around with recipes.
My mum has been helping with developing the recipe and making sure everything is tasting right. One of the biggest functions around here for my family is tasting – that’s a very important job. They’ve been definitely quite involved, helping me put on labels and load the bottles. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes.
My mum actually got the recipe passed to her from my granny
I can’t divulge the secret recipe now, but what’s in eggnog? Essentially, it’s the same idea as a custard. Mine is non-alcoholic. It’s made upon a sugar and egg base, with cream and milk added, then it’s sweetened and spiced to taste. My mum actually got the recipe passed to her from my granny. I learned as a child how to make it from mum.
For the eggnog I produce, I also pasteurise it. It’s called a super-heated short-time pasteurisation. It means the shelf-life of the product will be a good bit longer and it also means that it’s going to be a lot safer for people to consume.
I was shocked with the reaction it got to be honest. There’s over 400 likes alone on a post in a Facebook group called ‘Shop in Ireland’. The response by people both locally and nationally has been absolutely insane, which I’m delighted and really thankful for.
To be honest, when I set it all up my attitude towards it was, if I can almost break even I’ll be happy enough
I know all of us here are making a real effort to make sure Christmas money is going into local businesses, communities and funding Irish families. I think this year it’s something people are going to be a lot more mindful of.
To be honest, when I set it all up my attitude towards it was, if I can almost break even I’ll be happy enough, because it’s giving me something to do.
Definitely, I want to get into biomedical engineering eventually. Maybe having this as a business operating on the side seasonally would be something I could consider now.
It’s great in terms of something to do and spreading a bit of Christmas cheer around. Coming into the Christmas season, everyone around the house is already in the festive mood. It brings the smell of Christmas to the house.
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I’m from Knock in Co Mayo. I finished my degree in biomedical engineering in NUI Galway back in June. The job market was kind of closed then due to the lockdown. It’s been that way since. The job markets in the area haven’t really opened up fully. Normally, the graduation rate into jobs from the course would be around 96% to 97%.
Daniel McKittrick with his Nollaig Nog.
I had a lot of spare time just hanging about the place. Coming into winter, I was still applying for quite a few jobs. Nothing had come to fruition, because they seem to be holding a lot of the contracts off until there’s a little bit more security in the job market.
During this time, I had an idea to keep myself busy. Why don’t I set up a small company myself? See how it goes. This way, it keeps me busy and it’s rewarding too.
We’ve always had eggnog in the house that mum or I would make as a Christmas drink whenever we’d have visitors over. And they were always commenting on how lovely it was, saying it was something they’d never tried before.
I registered with the HSE to produce the food in our own kitchen here
I was talking to one of our cousins actually, who wanted to get a bottle sent down to them, because obviously they can’t travel up. So I had the idea, would this be something that’s marketable? Nollaig Nog started coming together around the end of September/start of October. It’s bottled eggnog.
I registered with the HSE to produce the food in our own kitchen here. I got the website, packaging, bottles and all that craic sorted.
I decided to put in a bit of commitment to sustainability as I’m doing it, because if I’m setting up a business, even if it’s small, I wanted to ensure whatever I’m producing is being done so ethically and sustainably.
All the bottles I use are PET (polyethylene terephthalate) grade 1 recyclable and all the labels are the same. The boxes it’s being shipped in are donated by local companies which otherwise would be recycling them.
At the minute I’m only selling online, but I’ve been in touch with a few places to see would they take in product
It’s all been a learning curve and it’s been really interesting. In terms of biomedical engineering it linked in that I’m well used to dealing with regulations and compliance, so that was a fairly easy space to move into.
At the minute I’m only selling online, but I’ve been in touch with a few places to see would they take in product. Now, nothing has happened as of yet, but I want to see if I can crack into the supermarket chain. Some people may not be that tech-savvy and other, may not want to order over the internet. It would make more sense to have it locally in a store.
All the bottles we send out have a shelf life of roughly five days after it arrives, so during that time they need to be refrigerated and kept cool.
Family secrets
I always baked in the house – cakes and that kind of stuff. It always interested me, but it was never something I considered as a career path. It was something that was a hobby. I’m fairly used to putting the oven mitts on, testing stuff and messing around with recipes.
My mum has been helping with developing the recipe and making sure everything is tasting right. One of the biggest functions around here for my family is tasting – that’s a very important job. They’ve been definitely quite involved, helping me put on labels and load the bottles. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes.
My mum actually got the recipe passed to her from my granny
I can’t divulge the secret recipe now, but what’s in eggnog? Essentially, it’s the same idea as a custard. Mine is non-alcoholic. It’s made upon a sugar and egg base, with cream and milk added, then it’s sweetened and spiced to taste. My mum actually got the recipe passed to her from my granny. I learned as a child how to make it from mum.
For the eggnog I produce, I also pasteurise it. It’s called a super-heated short-time pasteurisation. It means the shelf-life of the product will be a good bit longer and it also means that it’s going to be a lot safer for people to consume.
I was shocked with the reaction it got to be honest. There’s over 400 likes alone on a post in a Facebook group called ‘Shop in Ireland’. The response by people both locally and nationally has been absolutely insane, which I’m delighted and really thankful for.
To be honest, when I set it all up my attitude towards it was, if I can almost break even I’ll be happy enough
I know all of us here are making a real effort to make sure Christmas money is going into local businesses, communities and funding Irish families. I think this year it’s something people are going to be a lot more mindful of.
To be honest, when I set it all up my attitude towards it was, if I can almost break even I’ll be happy enough, because it’s giving me something to do.
Definitely, I want to get into biomedical engineering eventually. Maybe having this as a business operating on the side seasonally would be something I could consider now.
It’s great in terms of something to do and spreading a bit of Christmas cheer around. Coming into the Christmas season, everyone around the house is already in the festive mood. It brings the smell of Christmas to the house.
Read more
Meet the minor footballer sponsoring his team's jerseys
My Country Living: ‘Taking the tongues out of sheep’s heads was my earliest job’
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