Glendalough Introduction Tasting | Belfast Whiskey Week 2021

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

Filed: 24 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Format: Online Tasting
Ref: BWW/21/308

On the morning of 24th July 2021, Belfast Whiskey Week opened a window to the Wicklow mountains with Session 6: an introductory tasting of Glendalough whiskey. Three 50ml samples and a glass arrived through letterboxes across Northern Ireland and the Republic, inviting participants to sit down and let the uisce beatha do the talking. It was a gentle, generous way to begin a Saturday.

About This Event

This tasting includes 3 x 50ml Samples & Glass and will take place on the 24th @ 12:00.

Please note that this pack is only available for delivery within Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

You will be able to save on delivery costs by having your package to sent to a localised depot for collection. You will be charged a small fee upon collection, but the cost will be much cheaper than having packs delivered to individual addresses. If you would like to avail of this option, please make a note in the Special Instructions box, and we will contact you at a later date to arrange this and refund your delivery charges.

Looking Back

There is something quietly radical about a festival rooted in Belfast casting its net across the whole island. Session 6 did exactly that — and the logistics alone told a story worth noting. Packs were dispatched to homes from Derry to Dublin, from Antrim to Kerry, with a depot collection option softening the cost for those who knew to ask. It was a practical arrangement, but it also carried a kind of duchas about it: the idea that good whiskey, like good conversation, ought to travel as far as it needs to reach the right people.

Glendalough Distillery draws its identity from one of Ireland's most storied valleys — a place of monastic memory, mountain water, and a landscape that has been shaping Irish character for over a thousand years. Their whiskeys carry that sense of place without labouring it; there is a lightness and clarity to their spirit that speaks of high ground and clean air. For festival-goers encountering the brand for the first time, the introductory format was well-suited: three samples offered enough range to understand what Glendalough is reaching for, without overwhelming the palate or the afternoon.

The Introduction format has always been one of Belfast Whiskey Week's most democratic offerings — no prior knowledge required, no pressure to perform expertise. What it asks of you is attention and curiosity, and in return it gives you context. Participants in Session 6 were guided through their drams with notes that framed each expression, letting the whiskey speak first and the analysis follow. That sequencing matters. It is the difference between seanchas — the living tradition of storytelling — and a lecture.

It is worth placing this session within the broader landscape of BWW 2021, a year in which Irish and Ulster whiskey sat side by side in remarkable company. The same week brought an introduction to Bushmills' new Cask Finish Range and a deep dive into the Bushmills Core Malts — expressions forged just up the Causeway Coast. The contrast between north Antrim's maritime character and Glendalough's Wicklow mountain soul made for a quietly instructive week, even experienced from a kitchen table. Our Whiskey Map gives a sense of just how broad that Irish distilling geography has become.

Session 6 was unhurried, accessible, and honest — the right introduction to a distillery that earns its ground. Sláinte to everyone who poured along from wherever they were sitting that Saturday morning.