Ireland has a handful of serious smokehouses, and the honest answer to “whose smoked salmon is best?” is that they are genuinely different products, not better and worse versions of one thing. We are one of the producers in this comparison, so read us with that in mind; the facts below about the others come from their own published material, and the differences we point to are real ones, wood, cure and cut, not marketing ones. If you only take one thing away: the wood and the smoking temperature shape the taste more than the county does.
The producers, plainly
Wrights of Howth (Howth, Co Dublin). That is us. The Wright family has traded in seafood on Howth harbour since 1893, and our smokehouse cures certified Irish organic salmon over oak. The salmon has won Great Taste Awards in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023, and again in 2026. Oak gives a rounder, slightly sweeter smoke than beech, and our cure leans traditional rather than delicate. We sell direct from the smokehouse shop and through our hampers.
Burren Smokehouse (Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare). Founded in 1989 by Birgitta and Peter Curtin, and still family-run. They smoke exclusively Irish organic salmon, offer both cold-smoked and hot-smoked ranges, and their flavoured hot-smoked salmon (honey, lemon, pepper) is a genuine point of difference. Multiple Great Taste and Blas na hÉireann winners, with Origin Green certification.
Connemara Smokehouse (Ballyconneely, Co Galway). The Roberts family has smoked fish at Bunowen Pier for more than forty years across three generations, now run by Graham and Saoirse Roberts. They work with wild and organic salmon and smoke over beechwood in their original kiln. Beech is the milder, cleaner smoke; if you find oak-smoked salmon too assertive, this is the direction to go.
Frank Hederman, Belvelly Smokehouse (Cobh, Co Cork). Smoking for over forty years in what they describe as Ireland’s only traditional timber smokehouse, where the fish hang rather than lie flat. Beech-smoked, working with Irish organic and wild fish, cold-smoked in small batches. A chef’s favourite with a deserved cult following.
Kenmare Select (Kenmare, Co Kerry). The Benoit family has made certified organic smoked salmon since the 1990s, part of the Quinlan’s family business since 2017. Their signature is an ultra-cold oak smoke and hand work at every stage, filleting, dry-salting and long-slicing, aiming at what they call sashimi freshness. The most delicate style in this list.
What actually separates them?
The wood. Oak (us, Kenmare Select) smokes rounder and more robust; beech (Connemara, Hederman) smokes milder and cleaner. Neither is superior; they are different drinks in the same pub.
The fish. All five houses work with Irish organic salmon; Connemara and Hederman also smoke wild fish when it is available, which is rarer and priced accordingly.
The style. Cold-smoking is the classic silky slice all five produce. Burren is the strongest choice if you want hot-smoked and flavoured options; Kenmare Select if you want the most delicate cold smoke; ours if you want the traditional oak-and-cure taste that goes with brown bread rather than competing with it.
Burren Smokehouse or Wrights of Howth?
Choose Burren if you want hot-smoked and flavoured salmon, and Wrights if you want the traditional cold-smoked oak cut; that is the honest split, and we are the second half of it. Both houses smoke certified Irish organic salmon and both carry shelves of awards. The Burren range is broader in styles, with honey, lemon and pepper hot-smoked options we simply do not make. Ours is narrower and deeper: one fish, one wood, one cure, refined since 1893, which is why it is the version you will find on brown bread at an Irish funeral, wedding and Christmas alike. Neither of us would swap our product for the other, which tells you it is a real choice rather than a ranking.
So which should you buy?
For a traditional Irish side with oak depth, buy ours; that is not neutrality, but it is a defensible answer, and the awards are on the label. For the mildest, most modern plate, Kenmare Select. For beech smoke, Connemara or Hederman, with Hederman the one to visit if you are ever near Cobh. For hot-smoked and flavoured, Burren. Every one of these is a real smokehouse selling a real product; the country is lucky to have the argument.
Ours is here, sold by the side and by the sliced pack, shipped chilled across Ireland next working day.
Sources
- Burren Smokehouse, company site: burrensmokehouse.com
- Connemara Smokehouse, company site: smokehouse.ie
- Frank Hederman, Belvelly Smokehouse, company site: frankhederman.com
- Kenmare Select, company site: kenmare-select.com
- Wrights of Howth award history: our product pages and Great Taste listings, 2016 to 2023
