Belfast Public Houses & Art Trail | Belfast Whiskey Week 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/23/484

Some of the finest moments at Belfast Whiskey Week have nothing to do with sitting still — and the Belfast Walking Tours: Belfast's Public Houses & Art Trail on Monday 24th October 2023 was proof of that. Designed exclusively for the festival, this three-hour afternoon ramble through the city centre paired four drams of festival whiskey with a living, breathing lesson in Belfast's pub heritage and street art culture. At £30 a head, it was one of the most generous — and most joyful — ways to spend a Monday afternoon in the city.

About This Event

A Truly Bespoke Tour; designed for Belfast Whiskey Week. Larry & Paul take you on a trail that allows you to discover the Vibrant Art Work that is Brightening up our City Centre, coupled with the discovery of our oldest taverns and the historic buildings that have been preserved for us to frequent. The Tour provides an insight into our rich Irish Pub culture and lively Street Art scene, while sipping whiskies from the festival and sampling our bespoke Donuts from "Oh Donut". The Craic from these lads alone is worth the ticket price. Timeslot: 12pm-3pm Start Time: 12pm Duration: 3hrs Venue: Multiple Locations Drinks: 4 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

Larry and Paul, the irrepressible duo behind Belfast Walking Tours, have an easy gift for storytelling — the kind of warm, quick-witted seanchas that makes the past feel like it never really left. Setting off at noon from the city centre, the group that gathered for this session quickly discovered they weren't signing up for a history lecture. This was something looser, livelier, and considerably more delicious. The tour wove between some of Belfast's oldest surviving taverns and the colourful murals and installations that have been quietly transforming the city's gable walls and laneways for years.

The whiskey came in four drams, poured at stops along the route — each one a chance to pause, look up at a piece of street art or a preserved Victorian facade, and raise a glass to the tír beneath your feet. Belfast's public house culture runs deep; these are rooms that have absorbed centuries of conversation, argument, laughter, and grief. Standing inside them with a dram in hand, hearing Larry and Paul unpeel a little of that history, gave the uisce beatha a context that no tasting room could replicate. Sláinte tasted different here.

Between the whiskey stops, the group was treated to bespoke doughnuts from Oh Donut — a pairing that sounds unlikely until you try it, at which point it sounds obvious. The sweetness cut through the spirit beautifully, and the whole experience had the relaxed rhythm of a long afternoon with good company. If you've explored other walking events across the festival — like the Belfast Hidden Tours: Walking, Whiskies & Whispers or Irish Whiskey Review: Walking With Marty — you'll know that Belfast on foot is a different city entirely. The sheugh between knowing a place and truly feeling it gets crossed somewhere between the second dram and the third mural.

This particular Monday session was one of several iterations of the Public Houses & Art Trail that ran across BWW2023 — a testament to how popular the format proved. Earlier sessions set the tone, and the afternoon timeslot gave this one a particular golden-hour warmth as the group wound their way back through the city centre, a little more knowledgeable, a little more connected, and thoroughly well-fed. Belfast's duchas — its sense of inherited place and belonging — was the real spirit being poured.

If you missed this one, keep an eye on the BWW Whiskey Map for future editions of the trail. Belfast Walking Tours continues to offer some of the most genuinely engaging ways to know this city, and when you combine their craft with good Irish whiskey and the extraordinary public art that now brightens every corner of the centre, the result is something quietly unforgettable.