Candle Bottle Bank: Sustainable Candle Making | Belfast Whiskey Week 2023

Some festival memories linger like the last note of a good dram — and the Candle Bottle Bank session at Belfast Whiskey Week 2023 was exactly that kind of afternoon. Held at the characterful White's Oyster Rooms on Monday 24th October, this hands-on candle making workshop marked one of the festival's first meaningful steps toward sustainability, turning empty whiskey bottles into something beautiful, fragrant, and worth keeping.

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There's a word in Irish — duchas — that speaks to a deep sense of belonging, of something rooted in place and passed down with care. It felt apt at this session, where the impulse wasn't just to consume whiskey culture but to do something thoughtful with what it leaves behind. The Candle Bottle Bank, a creative enterprise that transforms glass waste into hand-poured candles, partnered with Belfast Whiskey Week 2023 as part of the festival's emerging commitment to looking honestly at its carbon footprint. The result was one of the most unexpectedly memorable events of the week.

Guests arrived from midday and settled into the warm surroundings of White's Oyster Rooms — a venue that carries its own seanchas, its own quiet history — before the session began in earnest at 12:45pm. Those who'd held onto an empty bottle from earlier in the festival were invited to bring it along; those who hadn't could choose from a curated collection already gathered. Either way, what followed was two hours of unhurried, hands-on craft. Participants learned to prepare, fill, and finish their own whiskey candle from scratch, guided through each stage with the kind of practical warmth that made even the uninitiated feel at ease.

And of course, no Belfast Whiskey Week session would be complete without the uisce beatha itself. Three carefully selected drams were poured throughout the afternoon, giving attendees something to sip and savour as the wax set and the room filled with the mingled scents of whiskey and warm fragrance. It was a gentle, convivial pace — crafting with one hand, glass in the other — and the conversation flowed as freely as the whiskey. You can explore more of what Belfast Whiskey Week brings to the table across our full range of events and collaborators.

What made this session stand out beyond its obvious charm was the sincerity behind it. Festivals of this scale generate waste — that's an honest truth — and the decision to address it not through platitudes but through partnership and action felt genuinely encouraging. Every empty bottle donated across the 2023 festival was earmarked for The Candle Bottle Bank, finding new life as something tactile and lasting rather than heading straight for the recycling bin. It was a small but meaningful shift in thinking, and the enthusiasm in that room suggested attendees were glad to be part of it. If you're curious about where the festival's spirit lives across the city, our Belfast Whiskey Map is a good place to start exploring.

The candles made that afternoon — imperfect in the best ways, each one carrying the particular character of the bottle it was born from — went home as gifts, as keepsakes, as small trophies of an afternoon well spent. For those who were there, it was a reminder that a whiskey festival can be more than tasting and talking. Sometimes it's about slowing down, making something with your hands, and leaving the place a little better than you found it. Sláinte to that. You can revisit the original event listing here.

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