Kinsale Whiskey Introduction | Belfast Whiskey Week 2021

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

Filed: 23 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/21/076

There's something quietly poetic about a whiskey rooted in the south of Ireland finding its way into the hands of tasters from Belfast to Brisbane, from Stockholm to San Francisco. Session 7 of Belfast Whiskey Week 2021 did exactly that — an introductory tasting of Kinsale Whiskey, held on the 23rd of July at 2pm, that brought a taste of Munster's maritime heritage to a genuinely global audience. Three 50ml samples, a glass, and a shared sense of curiosity: that was the shape of the afternoon.

About This Event

This tasting includes 3 x 50ml Samples & Glass and will take place on the 23rd @ 14:00.

For those in the USA, Australia, Sweden, Europe, the Republic of Ireland or Northern 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

Belfast Whiskey Week 2021 was, by design and necessity, a festival without borders — and Session 7 leaned into that spirit fully. Kinsale Whiskey, named for the historic harbour town at the mouth of the Bandon River in County Cork, carries within it a duchas — a sense of belonging to place — that needs no passport. The introductory format was well-suited to a brand that many attendees may have been encountering for the first time, offering a gentle but purposeful on-ramp into the distillery's character and ambitions.

The three-sample format gave participants room to explore rather than simply consume. Introductory sessions across BWW 2021 were built on the principle that the best way into any whiskey is through context — knowing where a spirit comes from, who made it, and what the makers were reaching for. Kinsale's story is one of revival and maritime pride, and those themes gave the tasting a natural narrative arc. Whether you were pouring in Portrush or Perth, the conversation was the same: what does this whiskey say about the place it comes from?

The global logistics of BWW 2021 were no small feat. Attendees across the USA, Australia, Sweden, Europe, and both parts of Ireland were catered for through a network of localised collection depots — a practical solution that kept costs manageable and ensured the samples arrived in good order, ready for the 2pm start. It was a reminder that the festival's ambition had always extended well beyond the city boundaries, even as its heart remained firmly on this island. For those who wanted to explore the full geography of Irish whiskey that week, the BWW Whiskey Map offered a useful companion, tracing the spread of distilleries old and new across the island.

Kinsale's introductory session sat comfortably within a wider BWW 2021 programme that gave considerable attention to Irish whiskey in all its forms. Elsewhere in the festival, Session 22 took a deep, deconstructive look at The Sexton, while those drawn to the north Antrim coastline had no shortage of options — from the Bushmills Core Malts Introduction to a full historical MasterClass on one of the world's oldest licensed distilleries. The breadth of that programming made sessions like this Kinsale introduction all the more valuable: a chance to step outside the familiar and raise a glass to something less well-charted.

At £15 for three samples and a glass, Session 7 asked very little and offered a genuine introduction to a distillery finding its feet in a crowded but welcoming category. Sláinte to the makers, and to everyone who poured along from wherever in the world they happened to be sitting that July afternoon.