Belfast Hidden Tours: Walking, Whiskies & Whispers | BWW 2023

Name: Belfast Whiskey Week 2026
Start: 2026-07-24
End: 2026-08-01
Location: Belfast

Filed: 15 Jul 2023
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/23/820

There are few better ways to fall in love with a city than on foot, dram in hand, with someone who genuinely knows its secrets. On Saturday 22nd October 2023, Belfast Hidden Tours brought their signature blend of seanchas and uisce beatha to Belfast Whiskey Week, guiding festival-goers through the living, breathing streets of the city on a three-hour journey that was equal parts tasting, tour, and storytelling.

About This Event

Both Fionnuala and Conor take turns to bring our Festival Goers the chance to walk through Belfast; sampling our local whiskies, Festival Food and visiting great pubs. This Bespoke walk combines Belfast Hidden Tours' love of Whiskey Heritage, Belfast Histories and some great hidden places that need to be explored and not forgotten. Be prepared to listen attentively; don’t miss the stories of those individuals and businesses that have built the Belfast Industry through the last few hundred years. Industrial Whiskey and Heritage is brought to life by well versed guides who have a great sense of humour and pride in their City! This walking tour will also include one of our collaborative Whiskey Donuts from “Oh Donuts” and/or bespoke food from “Tribal”. Timeslot: 3pm-6pm Start Time: 3pm Duration: 3hrs Venue: Multiple Locations Drinks: 5 Drams Type: Walking Tour Walking: Be Prepared to Walk around Belfast. Some of the areas & venues may not be fully accessible, please contact us @belfastwhiskeyweek on socials, or via email on marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com or 07773675179 (8am-8pm) to discuss. Disclaimers Please note that individual dietary requirements are not being catered for with any food at this event. Each Brand/Distillery and Collaborative Partner have agreed to our Min/Max Pour Policy. Please Respect this, and enjoy your festival responsibly. Festival Participants who are deemed to be too inebriated, or are not respecting themselves, will not be permitted into events and venues. ALL Hosts/Ushers/Collaborators and Venue Staff have the right to refuse participants without question and recourse. Please Drink Responsibly. All events are only available to those 18 years old and over. Do not purchase tickets if you are under the age of 18. Be prepared to produce ID if required. Venue staff & ushers may ask you to provide ID when showing your valid tickets. You may be refused enter to events if you can’t prove your age. Some venues may change, if they do, you will be notified. All events are subject to changes out of the control of the festival organisers. Any issues, please contact us @belfastwhiskeyweek on socials, or via email on marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com or 07773675179 (8am-8pm) to discuss. NO Refunds will be given. Please only buy tickets if you are prepared to attend the event. Tickets are transferable. If you are going to transfer tickets please email, marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com

Looking Back

Guides Fionnuala and Conor have a rare gift: they carry Belfast's history not as a rehearsed script but as something closer to duchas — an inherited, bone-deep knowledge of place and people. From the 3pm start, it was clear this wasn't a whiskey tasting that happened to include a walk. It was a walk through centuries of Belfast's industrial and cultural soul, with five carefully chosen drams marking the waypoints. Participants quickly learned to listen closely — the stories woven between sips were as layered as any well-aged single malt.

The route wound through some of Belfast's less-heralded corners, the kind of sheugh-side spots and tucked-away laneways that the city keeps for those willing to look. The guides brought to life the individuals and businesses who built Belfast's whiskey industry over the last few hundred years — a story of graft, ambition, and occasional ruin that feels as relevant today as it did in the Victorian heyday of the trade. There was weight to it, but also warmth, delivered with the dry humour and civic pride that Fionnuala and Conor wear so naturally.

Between the history and the heritage, there was food — and not just any food. Attendees were treated to one of the festival's celebrated collaborative whiskey doughnuts from Oh Donuts, alongside bespoke bites from Tribal. Both additions felt considered rather than tacked on; a whiskey donut is, it turns out, exactly the kind of thing you want in your hand when you're standing on a cobbled Belfast street hearing about a distillery that hasn't existed for a hundred and fifty years. Sláinte to whoever thought of that pairing. If the afternoon left you wanting to explore Belfast's whiskey story further, the Belfast Whiskey Map is a fine companion for continuing the journey at your own pace.

This was the second of three Belfast Hidden Tours sessions across BWW 2023 — those who caught the earlier afternoon slot or managed to secure a place on the later session were equally well served, though each run carried its own particular energy depending on who was in the group. That unpredictability is part of what makes a walking tour such a compelling festival format: the conversation between guides and participants shapes the afternoon as much as any fixed itinerary.

At £35 for three hours, five drams, food, and a genuinely enriching encounter with Belfast's tír and its whiskey past, this event consistently punched above its weight. Belfast Hidden Tours brings something that no tasting room masterclass quite can — the city itself as context, backdrop, and protagonist. If you've never done one of their tours, BWW is the ideal moment to start.