Whiskey Chats Podcast: My Belfast Chat in The Friend at Hand with Jim, Mark & Séamus

"On this episode, I had 3 guests who joined me in a round-table chat in the spectacular tasting room in the back of The Friend at Hand whiskey shop and museum in the heart of Belfast city. Jim Ingram who works in The FAH and has the YouTube Channel The Whiskey Novice. Séamus Óg Birt, Brand Ambassador in Echlinville Distillery in Co. Down. Mark McConville, Brand Ambassador for Bushmills Distillery in Co. Antrim."

The combination of guests is what makes the episode special. Jim Ingram brings the perspective of working in Belfast's most beloved whiskey shop. Séamus Óg Birt represents Echlinville, one of Northern Ireland's most committed independent distilleries. Mark McConville speaks for Bushmills, Ireland's oldest continually-operating distillery and one of the biggest names in Irish whiskey globally. Three different scales of operation, one tasting room.

"We all brought a couple of bottles of special liquids to the table for the chat and we had a ball. It was recorded during Belfast Whiskey Week 2024 and Pride was also on in Belfast at the same time. You will hear one of the many Pride parties happening in the background, as we had the back door open onto the courtyard of The Dark Horse bar next door."

That detail — the Belfast Pride party audible through the back door — gives the episode an almost cinematic sense of place. This is what Belfast feels like during festival week. It's not a sterile recording; it's a real Belfast night, in a real Belfast venue, during a real festival weekend.

The Friend at Hand is one of Belfast Whiskey Week's spiritual home venues — Paul Kane's original photoshoot for The Irish News profile happened there, and the shop has been a partner from the festival's earliest years. The tasting room at the back, with its irreplaceable bottles and museum quality archive, regularly hosts some of the most memorable festival events each year.

For listeners who can't be in Belfast, this episode is one of the closest things to actually being there. The conversations between the three guests cover Irish whiskey from three legitimate angles — production, retail, and brand storytelling — and the result is one of the best audio documents of what Belfast Whiskey Week sounds like at full tilt.

Listen to the full episode: Whiskey Chats — My Belfast Chat in The Friend at Hand with Jim, Mark & Séamus