Learn to Jig: Dramming & Dancing | Belfast Whiskey Week 2023

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

Filed: 15 Jul 2023
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/23/340

Some events pour whiskey into a glass. Others pour it into the soul. Learn to Jig: Dramming & Dancing — held on a Sunday afternoon at the beloved Nancy Mulligans during Belfast Whiskey Week 2023 — managed to do both, pairing three well-earned drams with a proper introduction to the art of Irish dance. It was uisce beatha and footwork in equal measure, and nobody who was there left the same way they arrived.

About This Event

Do you ever find yourself tapping your toes while the music starts in the bar? Does the sound of every fiddle or drum beat make you want to dance as if you were on tour with River Dance? Only kidding. Truthfully though, if you have thought about Irish Dancing, but don’t know where to start, or what to do, and think that there is no hope because you are no longer a kid and not in an organised setting; then this might just be an option. Sophie has designed an easy, up from the sofa, no strings attached opportunity to learn the basics and have fun; either to progress or to pick up the odd session. It’s used by those who might not have the time to commit to longer classes, or as a way to keep fit, or just for the craic. In any case, it’s an opportunity to meet new people, learn the art of Irish Dance and to have craic. This session will be a snapshot, an “eye opener” as it were, with the chance to meet Sophie, learn some moves and have some well deserved whiskies in the process. Comfy Clothes are a must. Timeslot: 3pm-6pm Start Time: 3pm Duration: 2hrs Venue: Nancy Mulligans Drinks: 3 Drams Type: Dancing Disclaimers Please note that individual dietary requirements are not being catered for with any food at this event. Each Brand/Distillery and Collaborative Partner have agreed to our Min/Max Pour Policy. Please Respect this, and enjoy your festival responsibly. Festival Participants who are deemed to be too inebriated, or are not respecting themselves, will not be permitted into events and venues. ALL Hosts/Ushers/Collaborators and Venue Staff have the right to refuse participants without question and recourse. Please Drink Responsibly. All events are only available to those 18 years old and over. Do not purchase tickets if you are under the age of 18. Be prepared to produce ID if required. Venue staff & ushers may ask you to provide ID when showing your valid tickets. You may be refused enter to events if you can’t prove your age. Some venues may change, if they do, you will be notified. All events are subject to changes out of the control of the festival organisers. Any issues, please contact us @belfastwhiskeyweek on socials, or via email on marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com or 07773675179 (8am-8pm) to discuss. NO Refunds will be given. Please only buy tickets if you are prepared to attend the event. Tickets are transferable. If you are going to transfer tickets please email, marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com

Looking Back

There is something quietly radical about a whiskey festival that asks you to put down your glass and move your feet. But that is exactly what this session did, and the better for it. From three o'clock on a Sunday, the floor of Nancy Mulligans became a space of duchas — of cultural belonging — as instructor Sophie welcomed a room full of willing beginners, nervous laughers, and the odd person who had been secretly practising in their kitchen for years. Comfy clothes were the dress code, and the atmosphere matched: easy, warm, and entirely without pretension.

Sophie's approach was built for the uninitiated. This was never about competitive Irish dancing or the rigid discipline of formal classes — it was about the craic of it, the rhythm, the way a reel can take hold of your body before your brain has caught up. She had designed the session specifically for adults who felt the itch but didn't know how to scratch it: those without the time for a weekly commitment, those simply looking to keep moving, and those who just wanted something to talk about over a dram on the way home. The moves were accessible, the pace forgiving, and the laughter — by all accounts — was plentiful.

Between the dancing came the whiskey, and three drams gave the afternoon its structure and its reward. The pairing of physical activity with tasting is more than a novelty — it sharpens the senses, loosens the shoulders, and makes every pour feel genuinely deserved. This was not a masterclass in nosing and palate notes; it was whiskey as it was always meant to be enjoyed: in company, after effort, with a story forming around it. If you want to explore more of what Belfast Whiskey Week brings together across the city, the Whiskey Map is a fine place to start.

It is worth noting that this session had a sibling earlier in the festival week — Event 23: Learn to Jig: Dramming & Dancing — which suggests that demand for Sophie's sessions had already made itself known in previous years. There is a particular kind of event that earns its repeat place on a festival programme through word of mouth alone, and this was clearly one of them. The tir of Nancy Mulligans — its stone, its warmth, its unapologetic Irishness — provided exactly the right stage.

In the seanchas of Belfast Whiskey Week, this session stands as a reminder that the festival has always been about more than what is in the bottle. It is about people finding themselves in unexpected places, doing things they didn't quite plan, and leaving with something they didn't arrive with. In 2023, for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, that something was a jig. Sláinte.