Hinch Distillery Day – Belfast Whiskey Week 2025

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

Filed: 15 Jul 2025
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/25/308

On a bright Monday in July, a coachload of whiskey lovers left Belfast city centre and headed south into County Down, bound for one of Northern Ireland's most striking distilleries. The Hinch Distillery Day has become a genuine cornerstone of Belfast Whiskey Week, and the 2025 edition — five and a half hours of rare drams, honest conversation, and an exceptional meal on a stunning estate — reminded everyone exactly why.

About This Event

21st July 2025 : Leaves from Room 2
Departs Belfast: 12:00pm
Departs Venue: 16:45pm
Duration: 5.5hrs

About 30 minutes from Belfast, near Ballynahinch, lies a truly stunning distillery that wouldn’t feel out of place in Speyside.

Hinch Distillery is breathtaking—traditional in design, bold in scale, and unmistakably built for whiskey lovers. It looks like a classic distillery from the outside, but inside, it’s so much more.

Don’t be fooled into thinking all our distilleries are boutique or quirky. Hinch is a big, bold whiskey-making fairytale. Alongside the distillery, you’ll find a wedding and conference venue, bar, shop, and Era—an independent fine dining restaurant.

Era’s Head Chef and owner, Gemma Austin, is known for her beautifully crafted dishes. For BWW, she’ll be hosting a special BBQ-style banquet exclusively for guests.

This year’s BWW Distillery Day at Hinch includes a rare, behind-the-scenes tour of the legendary Warehouse 3, guided by Distillery Manager & Head Distiller Will Stafford and Distillery Experience Manager Claire McLernon.

Start with a tour of the mashing and distillation process, then head to Warehouse 3 for a tasting of exceptional and rare Single Malt, Single Cask Whiskies.

As a gentle reminder — all guests will have the opportunity to take home a very special, limited BWW Exclusive bottling from Hinch, with a 10% discount on the day.

Keep an eye on Hinch bottlings—you might be surprised at the value and flavour in these incredible drams.

Looking Back

The drive alone sets the tone. Thirty minutes from the city, the hedgerows and drumlins of County Down open up, and then Hinch appears — sweeping, symmetrical, almost Speyside in its bearing. It's the kind of place that makes you slow down and look twice. If you've been following the geography of Irish whiskey, you'll know that Northern Ireland's distilling landscape has grown impressively in recent years, but Hinch occupies a scale and confidence all its own. This is no boutique curiosity — it's a full, working, serious whiskey operation, and the Distillery Day was designed to show that with nothing held back.

Guests were met by Distillery Manager and Head Distiller Will Stafford and Distillery Experience Manager Claire McLernon, both of whom brought the kind of warmth and depth you hope for in a host. The tour began where all good whiskey stories begin — with grain, water, and heat — walking through the mashing and distillation process with enough detail to satisfy the curious without leaving anyone behind. Will spoke about the character he's coaxing from the stills with the quiet conviction of someone who genuinely loves the work. It felt less like a tour script and more like seanchas — the handing down of craft knowledge, person to person.

The heart of the day, though, was Warehouse 3. Access to this space is rare, and the atmosphere inside — cool, close, the scent of maturing spirit hanging in the air — made the tasting of exceptional Single Malt, Single Cask whiskies feel properly ceremonial. These were drams that hadn't been through the usual channels, drawn straight from casks that tell their own story. The flavours were striking: fruit, spice, and a depth that only patient time in wood can produce. For anyone who has attended Hinch's Youthful & Aged tasting at a previous BWW, this was the next level — a privileged look behind the curtain at what the distillery's future holds.

And then there was the food. Era, the independent fine dining restaurant on the estate, is the work of Head Chef and owner Gemma Austin, and for Belfast Whiskey Week she laid on a BBQ-style banquet that was, by every account, as carefully considered as any pairing event on the programme. The food complemented the whiskey without competing with it — honest, generous cooking that matched the character of the day. Eating outdoors on a County Down estate in July, dram in hand, is a particular kind of Irish contentment. The old word for it might be duchas — a sense of belonging to a place, however briefly.

Guests also had the chance to take home a limited BWW Exclusive bottling from Hinch, available at a 10% discount on the day — a tangible piece of the experience to carry back to Belfast and beyond. Hinch's range continues to impress with genuine quality at honest prices, and the exclusive bottling was, by all accounts, a highlight for those who secured one. The Distillery Day is not just an event — it's an argument, made persuasively over five hours, for why this corner of County Down deserves your attention. Sláinte.