McConnell's Distillery Tour – Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

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

Filed: 25 Jul 2024
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/24/908

There are moments at Belfast Whiskey Week that feel less like an event and more like a threshold being crossed — and the McConnell's Signature Distillery Tour on 25th July 2024 was exactly that kind of moment. Held inside one of the city's most architecturally striking buildings, just a short dander from the city centre, this was an hour spent not just tasting whiskey but witnessing a piece of Belfast's uisce beatha heritage come roaring back to life. Guests weren't merely visitors; they were, in the truest sense, among the first people in the world to walk these floors.

About This Event

Book in for a Signature Tour with McConnell's and spend some time in one of Belfast's most historic buildings. Having only opened its doors a few months ago, you will be one of the first in the World to experience this truly spectacular Distillery and Visitor Attraction. It is only a few minutes walk from the City Centre and will last an hour.

Looking Back

McConnell's Irish Whisky carries one of the great names in Belfast's distilling story — a duchas stretching back to 1776, when the city's whiskey trade was as much a part of its identity as the linen mills or the shipyards. After decades of silence, the brand has returned not just in spirit but in stone and copper, with a purpose-built distillery and visitor attraction that wears its history with quiet confidence. When BWW 2024 placed a Signature Tour on the festival programme, it wasn't simply filling a slot — it was marking a genuine milestone.

The building itself set the tone before a drop was poured. Guests who arrived for the 25th July tour found themselves stepping into a space that manages to feel both reverential and alive — high ceilings, considered design, and the faint warm breath of a working still. Having only opened its doors a few months prior, the distillery had that particular atmosphere of somewhere finding its feet, which only added to the sense of occasion. To be this early, this close to the beginning of something, is a privilege that those in attendance were acutely aware of.

The tour itself moved through the production story with care — from the brand's deep roots in Belfast seanchas through to the contemporary craft now being practised on-site. Guides were clearly proud of what McConnell's has become, and that pride was infectious without tipping into the performative. Questions were welcomed, tangents were indulged, and the kind of honest conversation that makes distillery tours worth attending was very much in evidence. For those who had also taken in the Titanic Distillers Signature Tour during the same festival week, the contrast between two very different expressions of Belfast distilling made for a richly layered experience.

At £25, the tour represented genuine value — not just in what was tasted, but in the rarity of the access. McConnell's is a distillery that will, in time, welcome many thousands of visitors, but the people who passed through on this particular July afternoon belong to a very small first cohort. That's the kind of thing you remember. It was also worth noting, for those planning their festival around the map of the city, that the distillery's proximity to the centre makes it an easy anchor point — something our Whiskey Map reflects well for those navigating the Belfast distilling trail.

McConnell's has returned to its tír, and BWW 2024 was fortunate to have been there early. If you missed this particular session, there were other McConnell's tour slots across the festival that offered much the same experience — and with the distillery now firmly open, there is every reason to believe it will remain a fixture of future festival programmes. Sláinte to a homecoming well worth raising a glass to.