Dragon Claw Whiskey & Poker Night | Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

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

Filed: 20 Jul 2024
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/24/220

Some events at Belfast Whiskey Week ask you to sit quietly and swirl. This was not one of them. On the evening of 20th July 2024, Dragon Claw took over the storied Garrick Bar for a night of Texas Hold'em poker, exceptional whiskey, good food, and the kind of crackling energy that this County Down brand seems to generate wherever it goes. At £80 a head, it promised a lot — and by most accounts, it delivered.

About This Event

Dragon Claw Whiskey makes no apologies for being direct, forward thinking, extravagant, delicious and flamboyant. This year they have outdone themselves again; hosting what will be an exceptional night of Poker, Whiskies, Food and Prizes at the historic Garrick Bar. For those new to Dragon Claw, founder Chris Crooks is the owner of the World-renowned White Dragon Tattoo Studio in Belfast. Chris has taken his childhood upbringing in the US, along with his attention to detail for Japanese Tattoos, to curating eye-catching label designs and mouth-watering whiskies. Proud to be from Northern Ireland, he has made a mark on the premium whiskey category here in Ireland and indeed around the globe. The Garrick will be an excellent venue for what is geared to be an evening that will be nothing short of entertaining, tasteful and full of whiskey to boot!

Texas Hold’em Poker rules will apply.

Looking Back

Dragon Claw is a brand that wears its personality openly. Founded by Chris Crooks — the man behind Belfast's White Dragon Tattoo Studio, a name well regarded in the world of Japanese-style tattooing — it brings the same aesthetic rigour to whiskey that Crooks applies to ink. The label designs are striking, the liquid is carefully selected and finished, and the whole enterprise has a restlessness to it, a refusal to settle into the comfortable grooves of the category. If you want a quiet, reverential tasting, Dragon Claw will probably suggest you look elsewhere. If you want uisce beatha with a bit of fire in it, you've found your brand. Browse the full Dragon Claw range to get a sense of what they're about.

The Garrick Bar was, by any measure, the right room for this. One of Belfast city centre's most beloved traditional bars, it carries a duchas — an inherited character — that no amount of refurbishment could manufacture. The dark wood, the hum of conversation, the sense that serious things have been discussed and celebrated here over many decades: it gave the evening a gravitas that offset the deliberate theatre of the poker tables. The contrast worked. Dragon Claw's flamboyance and the Garrick's rootedness made for an interesting tension, and interesting tension makes for a memorable night.

Guests settled in to rounds of Texas Hold'em, chips stacked with varying degrees of confidence, while Dragon Claw's whiskies were poured and discussed with the kind of focused attention that only sharpens when there's also a hand of cards to consider. There's something to be said for tasting whiskey in a context of mild competitive pressure — it focuses the senses. The food kept things grounded, and the prizes gave those eliminated from the poker a reason to stay cheerful. The seanchas — the storytelling — flowed as freely as the drams, with Crooks's background and the brand's journey from County Down to an international audience providing plenty of material.

Dragon Claw has made something of a habit of bringing imaginative formats to Belfast Whiskey Week — their Dungeons & Dragons Whiskey Shot-A-Thon has become the stuff of festival legend, and they've been part of the Taste the Festival collaboration series too. The Poker Night felt like a natural extension of that instinct: whiskey as experience, not just liquid. For those who prefer their festival evenings a little more contemplative, BWW 2024 offered plenty of alternatives — the Bushmills Causeway Collection MasterClass and the Bushmills History session both rewarded a different kind of attention. But for the Dragon Claw faithful and the poker-inclined, this was their night, and they made the most of it.

Slàinte to everyone who pulled up a chair at the Garrick that evening. Whether you left with a prize, a new favourite dram, or simply a very good story, the night did what Dragon Claw always intends: it left a mark.