Douglas Laing Meet the Beasts Dinner | 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/23/124

There are nights at Belfast Whiskey Week that linger long after the last dram is poured, and the Douglas Laing Meet the Beasts dinner on Thursday 27th October 2023 was unquestionably one of them. Six carefully selected whiskies, a specially curated three-course meal, and a family-run bottler with 75 years of cask-hunting excellence behind them — it was, to use the Ulster phrase, some craic altogether. By the time the evening wound down somewhere close to midnight, the room had that particular warmth that only uisce beatha and good company can conjure.

About This Event

Following on from last year's success, it was important that we brought back the Douglas Laing range to the Festival. This is your chance to Meet the Beasties, Big Peat, Scallywag and their Single Cask Selection; Old Particular. Douglas Laing Celebrates their 75th Anniversary this year, looking forward to their special releases! If you are unsure about Scottish Whiskies, or want to try some exciting and new, then I recommend this tasting out of all our events. You’ll be surprised. Our Whiskies will be paired by a specially curated 3 course meal. Again, you’ll not be disappointed. Timeslot: 9pm-12am Start Time: 9pm Duration: 2.5hrs Venue: Alba Drinks: 6 Drams Type: Dinner 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

This was the second time Douglas Laing had graced the festival with a full dinner event, and it was clear from the outset that lessons from the first outing had been taken to heart. The format was simple and confident: let the whisky do the talking, let the food give it context, and trust the room to find its own seanchas. Guests arrived at Alba — a venue that carries its own sense of occasion — and settled in for an evening that straddled Scotland and Belfast with easy grace.

Douglas Laing is a name that commands quiet respect in independent bottling circles. Family-run since 1948, the company has spent three-quarters of a century developing an instinct for exceptional Scotch casks, and that accumulated duchas was on full display across the evening's six drams. The lineup brought together the characters that have made the brand beloved: the big, peaty bravado of Big Peat, the sherried swagger of Scallywag, and the more introspective pleasures of Old Particular's single cask selection. For anyone who considers themselves primarily an Irish whiskey drinker, the range offered a generous and illuminating window into what Scotland does best — and the event description's personal recommendation to the uninitiated proved well-founded.

Each pour arrived alongside a course of the curated dinner, and the pairings revealed thoughtful work behind the scenes. Big Peat's coastal smoke found natural allies in richly flavoured dishes; Scallywag's fruit-forward warmth bridged the gap between kitchen and glass with real elegance. Old Particular, as always, asked a little more of its drinkers — and received the attention it deserved. The conversation around the tables shifted from curiosity to conviction across the three hours, which is precisely what a good tasting dinner should do. Those who had attended the Douglas Laing MasterClass in previous festival years would have noticed the evolution: this was a more immersive, more social occasion, shaped by the accumulated goodwill between the brand and the festival.

2023 was, of course, a milestone year for Douglas Laing — their 75th anniversary — and there was a quiet pride in the room that acknowledged that longevity. Independent bottlers occupy a particular and precious tir within the whisky world: they are custodians as much as traders, advocates for distilleries and casks that might otherwise go unsung. An evening like this one, set in a Belfast that has grown into one of the most genuinely exciting whisky cities on these islands, felt like a fitting way to mark that anniversary. For a full sense of how Douglas Laing's presence shaped the wider 2023 festival, the Belfast Whiskey Week map tells its own story across multiple sessions and venues.

Slàinte mhath to Douglas Laing, to the team at Alba, and to everyone who raised a glass that Thursday night. The beasts were met, the drams were savoured, and Belfast — as ever — proved itself more than worthy of the company. We look forward to whatever the next chapter brings.

The Brand: Douglas Laing

Family-run since 1948, Douglas Laing hunts down exceptional Scotch whisky casks. Their Remarkable Regional Malts range covers Scotland with real depth.