Lough Ree Distillery Showcase | 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/23/500

There was something quietly historic about the Saturday afternoon session that gathered at Angel & Two Bibles on the 29th for Event 93 of Belfast Whiskey Week 2023. For the first time, Lough Ree Distillery made the journey north across the sheugh — bringing the uisce beatha of the Irish midlands to a Belfast audience, and finding a warm welcome waiting for them.

About This Event

A First for Belfast Whiskey Week. Great to See Lough Ree Distillery make the trip North to Showcase their Lough Ree Spirits. Having already made a name for themselves this year at Cork Whiskey Fest and at Dublin Live, we hope that Belfast Whiskey Week will provide another great platform for this family run whiskey brand to engage with new drinkers. Lough Ree is currently building their main distillery in Lanesborough set by the River Shannon in Leinster, and already distilling in their micro distillery across the road. Gins, Vodka, Blends, Grain Whiskey and Single Malts make up the portfolio. Let’s have a few Sips and Cocktails at Angel & 2 Bibles. Timeslot: 12pm-3pm Start Time: 12pm Duration: 2.5hrs Venue: Angel & Two Bibles Drinks: 4 Drams Type: Showcase 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

Lough Ree Distillery is a family-owned operation rooted in one of Ireland's most evocative landscapes — the point where the River Shannon widens and breathes into Lough Ree itself. There's a duchas to this place, a deep sense of belonging to the land and water, that carries through into everything the distillery makes. Coming to Belfast Whiskey Week felt less like a trade call and more like a family from down the country stopping in, arms full, ready to share. Which is exactly the spirit the afternoon carried.

The session ran from noon until half two, and those two and a half hours moved quickly. Four drams anchored the tasting, but the conversation around them was the real substance of the afternoon. Attendees got a proper look at the breadth of the Lough Ree portfolio — gins, vodka, blends, grain whiskey, and single malts — a range that reflects both the ambition of a distillery still mid-build and the confidence of a team that knows what it wants to make. At the time of the festival, the main distillery in Lanesborough was under construction; production was already running in their micro distillery across the road, which gave the showcase a pleasing sense of a brand caught at a genuinely exciting juncture in its story.

The cocktail element added a lightness to the proceedings that felt right for a Saturday lunchtime slot. Angel & Two Bibles, with its unhurried, characterful atmosphere, was well-suited to hosting a distillery still telling its story — there was room to linger, to ask questions, to go back for a second opinion on a dram. That willingness of the Lough Ree team to engage properly with drinkers, rather than simply present a product, was noted by those in the room. This was seanchas-style storytelling: the kind of knowledge that travels better in conversation than on a back label. You can explore more of what Lough Ree Distillery produces through our Lough Ree collection.

It was fitting that this debut in Belfast sat alongside other events that week exploring the full breadth of Irish and Irish-adjacent whiskey culture. The McConnell's Irish Whisky: Back in Belfast session spoke to the city's own reclaimed whiskey identity, while over in Event 41 — Blaiseadh Uisce Bheatha, conducted entirely as Gaeilge — the cultural and linguistic roots of the spirit were being honoured in their own right. Lough Ree's first appearance at the festival felt like a natural thread in that broader weave.

Lough Ree had already turned heads at Cork Whiskey Fest and Dublin Live before arriving in Belfast, but there was something particular about bringing the midlands' uisce beatha traditions to an Ulster audience for the first time. Sláinte to the team for making the trip, and here's hoping the main Lanesborough distillery is now rising well. We look forward to welcoming them back — there's unfinished tasting business between Belfast and Lough Ree.