Limavady at Harbourview Hotel Distillery Day | Belfast Whiskey Week 2025

On a golden Saturday in late July 2025, Belfast Whiskey Week took its show on the road — north along the coast to The Harbourview Hotel, Ireland's first destination whiskey hotel, for what turned out to be one of the most culturally rich and genuinely memorable days in the festival's history. Coaches departed from Room 2 Hotel at a civilised quarter-to-twelve, and for the next six hours, guests found themselves immersed in uisce beatha, living history, and the kind of craic that clings to you long after the drams have settled. At the heart of it all was Limavady Irish Whiskey, the single barrel gem from the historic Roe Valley, pouring alongside its stablemate Outwalker and a very special guest from the water's edge of Islay.

About This Event

Please note that this event only caters for those over the age of 18.

Looking Back

The Harbourview Hotel sits on the North Coast with the kind of quiet confidence that only comes from knowing exactly what it is — a place built around whiskey, not just selling it. With over 300 expressions behind the bar and views that stretch across water older than any distillery on either island, it made a fitting backdrop for a Belfast Whiskey Week event that dared to think bigger than a tasting room. For guests stepping off the coach from Belfast, the effect was immediate: salt air, coastal light, and the soft hum of live music drifting out to meet them. This was not a standard dram-and-dash affair.

The tasting itself was anchored by two whiskeys crafted by the hotel's own owners: Outwalker and Limavady Irish Whiskey. Limavady is a single barrel expression, bourbon-matured and finished in PX sherry casks, drawing its name and its character from the storied Roe Valley in County Derry. In the glass, it offers that signature push-and-pull between American oak sweetness and the dark, honeyed weight of Pedro Ximénez — and poured in a setting like Harbourview, with the North Coast sprawling beyond the windows, it felt less like a tasting note and more like a sense of place made liquid. Outwalker, its companion pour, brought a different energy — bolder, more wandering in character, as its name might suggest — and together the two made a compelling case for what the hotel's owners are quietly building on this stretch of the island.

But the day carried an additional charge, one that no amount of good whiskey alone could manufacture: Bruichladdich made its first-ever appearance at an event in Northern Ireland. The celebrated Islay distillery — progressive, unpeated, fiercely independent — crossed the water for the occasion, and the symbolism was hard to miss. The event was framed explicitly as a celebration of the ancient Dalriada Kingdom, that shared cultural and geographic world that once stretched across northeast Ireland and the western coast of Scotland, binding Ulster and Islay long before either had a distillery to its name. To taste Bruichladdich alongside Limavady and Outwalker in that spirit of duchas — of belonging, of inherited connection — gave the afternoon a depth that went well beyond the liquid in the glass. It was seanchas you could drink. For those who'd previously experienced Echlinville's warehouse days or the intimacy of Copeland's distillery trips, this Harbourview day felt like a natural evolution of the festival's ambition to take whiskey out of the city and into the landscape that shapes it.

Live music filled the spaces between drams, the bar hummed with conversation, and the kind of easy, generous atmosphere that the best whiskey events cultivate settled over the room. It's worth noting that the day fell during Open Championship week — a detail that added an extra current of sporting energy to proceedings, with more than a few guests arriving already in high spirits from the week's coverage. The coaches back to Belfast departed at half-four, and by all accounts they were considerably warmer than the outbound journey, in every sense. Limavady's wider presence across BWW 2025 — in cocktail sessions, at the Whiskey Expo, and in a Tribal Burger collaboration — had already made a strong impression across the festival week, but this North Coast excursion was something apart. If you want to explore what Limavady offers beyond the event, browse the full Limavady range here.

The Harbourview Hotel day trip was the kind of event that rewards hindsight. At the time, guests were simply having a brilliant afternoon on the North Coast — good whiskey, great company, and a view to make anyone grateful. Looking back, it was also a quiet landmark: Bruichladdich's Northern Ireland debut, a celebration of Dalriada heritage that felt genuinely earned rather than curated, and a reminder of what Belfast Whiskey Week does best when it follows the uisce beatha beyond the city limits. Sláinte to everyone who made the journey.

The Brand: Limavady Irish Whiskey

Single barrel Irish whiskey from the historic Roe Valley, bourbon-matured and PX-finished.

The Venue

Harbourview Hotel — Hotel. Belfast Harbour

Waterfront hotel offering stunning harbour views and whiskey experiences.

More from Belfast Whiskey Week

• 4: Two Stacks: Welcome to the Bond
• 14: Titanic Distillers: Distillery Evening
• 66: Echlinville Distillery: Distillery Day (Welcome to the Warehouse)
• 11: Two Stacks: Party At Their Gaff
• 59: Echlinville Distillery Day
• 60: Copeland Distillery Day

Explore the full programme on the Belfast Whiskey Week Whiskey Map.

Event Gallery