Limavady & Outwalker Cocktail Masterclass | 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/25/356

On a bright July afternoon in 2025, the doors of Angel & 2 Bibles swung open to welcome another session of Belfast Whiskey Week's celebrated cocktail masterclass series — this time with two of the island's most distinctive whiskey characters sharing the spotlight: Limavady Irish Whiskey and Outwalker. For twenty-five pounds and a couple of hours of good company, attendees walked away with three handcrafted drinks, a fistful of new skills, and a considerably deeper appreciation for what uisce beatha can do when you stop being conventional with it.

About This Event

Everyday during the Festival, we have partnered with one of Belfast’s finest Cocktail lounges: Angel & 2 Bibles. We have built up a great relationship with this quirky and nostalgic venue of the past 4 years, and hosted multiple parties, tastings, fine-dining experiences, as well as the best cocktail experiences in Belfast.

This year we are challenging the staff, the venue, and you to deliver a unique cocktail master class everyday during the festival.

Each session will have three unique drinks, using Whiskies and possibly some other spirits from our local distilleries such as Poitín or Gin or Vodka or even Rum.

You’ll get to make the cocktails, after our well versed and experienced mixologists walk you through the step by step process of making bespoke Cocktails designed for the festival.

This Session will use 3 Whiskies from the Outwalker & Limavady range.

Looking Back

Angel & 2 Bibles has become something close to a home-from-home for Belfast Whiskey Week, and with good reason. The venue wears its character lightly — nostalgic without being museum-piece, quirky without trying too hard — and it sets exactly the right tone for an afternoon of learning by doing. This was the fourth year of the festival's partnership with the cocktail lounge, and the ease between the BWW team and the Angel's mixologists showed. These weren't nervous performances; they were confident, generous demonstrations from people who know their craft and clearly enjoy sharing it.

Each of the three cocktails built across the session drew on whiskies from the Limavady and Outwalker ranges, and the contrast between the two made for a genuinely interesting palette to work with. Limavady is a single barrel Irish whiskey from the historic Roe Valley — bourbon-matured and finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, which gives it a richness and a dark-fruit depth that plays beautifully in longer, spirit-forward builds. Outwalker, meanwhile, brought its own personality to the table. Set side by side, the two ranges invited attendees to think about how a whiskey's character either submits to or steers a cocktail — a quietly instructive lesson tucked inside what felt like pure craic. This kind of paired-brand approach was one of the more inspired choices across the cocktail masterclass series, which also featured Titanic Whiskey and several other local distillers throughout the week.

The format — walk-through first, then hands on — kept things accessible without dumbing anything down. The mixologists moved through each recipe step by step, explaining not just the what but the why: why you stir this one and shake that one, why the ice matters, why the garnish isn't decoration but a final aromatic note. Attendees measured, poured, stirred and tasted, and the room had the kind of low hum of concentration and occasional laughter that marks an experience actually worth having. Nobody was talked at; everyone was involved. For those curious about how Limavady's PX finish translates from the neat pour into something more complex and constructed, the full range is worth exploring beyond the festival context.

It's worth noting that Limavady's presence at BWW 2025 extended well beyond this single session — the Roe Valley distillery also appeared at the Belfast Whiskey Expo and featured in a Tribal Burger collaboration that raised more than a few eyebrows in the best possible way. But there was something particularly fitting about seeing Limavady in a cocktail setting. A whiskey with that level of finish and structure has more to say than a neat dram alone can contain. The session at Angel & 2 Bibles let it say all of it. Those keen to trace where these whiskies sit within the broader landscape of Irish and Ulster distilling would do well to consult the Belfast Whiskey Week Whiskey Map, which charts the whole island's distilling story.

Sláinte to everyone who pulled up a stool, picked up a jigger, and gave it a go. This is exactly the kind of duchas-rooted, forward-looking experience that makes Belfast Whiskey Week worth coming back to year after year.