Irish Whiskey Review Walking Tour | 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/25/972

Few events at Belfast Whiskey Week capture the soul of the festival quite like a good walk through the city with a dram in hand — and the 101: Irish Whiskey Review Walking Tour delivered exactly that, and then some. Led by Marty McAuley of Irish Whiskey Review, this bespoke walking tour wound its way through Belfast's streets, landmarks, pubs, and passageways, weaving together the city's rich whiskey heritage with the kind of lived-in historical storytelling that no guidebook could replicate. Running daily from Room2 Hotel on Queen Street across a week-long stretch in July 2025, it fast became one of the most talked-about outings of the entire programme.

About This Event

We are lucky to have Marty McAuley from Irish Whiskey Review taking our seconded bespoke walking tour of Belfast’s Whiskey Heritage and Whiskey Industry as well as an in depth historical review of Belfast of the years. Marty has wealth of whiskey knowledge and is also one of the best walking tour guides in the city. This combination, and his cameo role at the Friend at Hand has him well placed to deliver a walking tour like no other in the city.

Be prepared for a good walk, great whiskies and delightful snacks, as you visit Belfast Landmarks, pubs and eateries. Your love for whiskey will be enhanced, your love for history will grow, and your love for Belfast will flourish. Sip on 4 local whiskies and devour our food collaborations with local artisans, including; Whiskey Donuts, Chocolates, Burgers, Chips and Ice-Pops.

Meeting Point to Start: Inside Our Hotel Partner; Room2 Hotel, Queen Street, Belfast BT1 6EE at 3pm each day Friday 18th to Saturday 26th July

Looking Back

The tour gathered its walkers each afternoon at 3pm in the welcoming surrounds of Room2 Hotel, Belfast Whiskey Week's hotel partner on Queen Street — a fitting assembly point, calm and central, before the city opened up around you. From the first moment Marty took the floor, it was clear this wasn't going to be a standard sightseeing shuffle. His command of Belfast's seanchas — its living oral history — runs deep, and he wore it lightly, guiding groups through layers of the city's past with an ease that made even the most seasoned Belfasters see familiar corners with fresh eyes. The duchas of the place, that sense of inherited belonging, came through in every stop.

Four local whiskies anchored the experience across the route, each poured at carefully chosen moments that matched dram to setting. Whether pausing at a storied pub or taking in a landmark steeped in the city's industrial and cultural memory, the uisce beatha felt earned rather than incidental. Marty's knowledge — honed through years of tasting, writing, and talking whiskey with Irish Whiskey Review — meant that no pour went unexplained, but never to the point of lecture. It was conversation, not classroom. Sláinte felt genuinely meant every time it was raised.

The food collaborations with local artisans were a masterstroke, turning the tour into something closer to a progressive feast than a standard walking event. Whiskey-glazed donuts, handcrafted chocolates, burgers, chips, and whiskey ice-pops appeared at intervals that felt almost theatrically well-timed — just when the legs needed a rest and the appetite had been stirred. The pairing of Belfast's food scene with its whiskey identity was a reminder that the festival has always understood the two belong together, much like other events across the week that explored the city's pub culture and hidden corners. If you've been curious about how the walking tour programme has grown over the years, events like the Irish Whiskey Review: Walking With Marty and Belfast Hidden Tours: Walking, Whiskies & Whispers offer a sense of the rich tradition this event sits within.

What set this particular tour apart was the cumulative effect of Marty's dual role — whiskey authority and city guide in one — combined with a route that genuinely honoured Belfast's tír, its ground and its story. The sheugh between tourist experience and authentic local knowledge was bridged with real skill here. Attendees left not just with a warmth from the whiskey, but with a fuller picture of the city they'd walked through: its distilling past, its present renaissance, and the people keeping both alive. It was, in the truest sense, a love letter to Belfast written in footsteps and drams.

If events like this one are your entry point into the world of Belfast Whiskey Week, you won't find a gentler or more generous introduction. And if you're already a convert, the Belfast Walking Tours: Belfast's Public Houses & Art Trail is another thread worth following as you map out the festival's walking heritage. Keep an eye on our Whiskey Map too — many of the landmarks Marty wove into the tour feature there, waiting to be revisited on your own terms.