McConnell's Introduction Tasting | Belfast Whiskey Week 2021

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

Filed: 29 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Format: Online Tasting
Ref: BWW/21/252

There was something quietly fitting about McConnell's taking an early slot at Belfast Whiskey Week 2021. Here was a name woven deep into the duchas of this city — a brand with roots in Belfast's own whiskey-making past — stepping forward to introduce itself to a new generation of uisce beatha enthusiasts on the evening of 29th July. Session 3 was billed as an introduction, and in every sense, it delivered exactly that: a first handshake with a whiskey that carries the weight of this place in its very label.

About This Event

This tasting includes 3 x 50ml Samples & Glass and will take place on the 29th @ 19:00.

This tasting comprises of:

5 year old Blend
Sherry Finish Blend
2002 Single Malt

For those in the USA, Australia, Sweden, Europe, the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, you will be able to save on delivery costs by having your package to sent to a localised depot for collection. You will be charged a small fee upon collection, but the cost will be much cheaper than having packs delivered to individual addresses. If you would like to avail of this option, please make a note in the Special Instructions box, and we will contact you at a later date to arrange this and refund your delivery charges.

Looking Back

Three fifty-millilitre samples arrived in the hands of participants that Thursday evening, each one a chapter in a short but well-told story. The lineup — a 5 Year Old Blend, a Sherry Finish Blend, and a 2002 Single Malt — was shrewdly chosen for an introductory session. It moved participants from the accessible to the considered, from the everyday to the exceptional, without ever losing the thread of what McConnell's is about. The 5 Year Old Blend set a warm, approachable tone: light grain, a touch of fruit, the kind of dram that reminds you why Irish whiskey has always been a welcoming pour.

The Sherry Finish Blend raised the temperature, both literally and figuratively. That cask influence brought depth and a dried-fruit richness that rewarded those who paused to sit with it. Sherry finishes can be heavy-handed in lesser hands, but here the balance held — the Irish character wasn't buried, merely enriched. There was conversation to be had in that glass, and if the chat in participants' homes that evening was anything like the chat in the session itself, it flowed as freely as the whiskey.

Then came the 2002 Single Malt, and here the session found its quiet crescendo. Nearly two decades in cask will do things to a spirit that no blender can rush or replicate. This was seanchas in liquid form — a whiskey with something to say about time, about patience, about what Belfast whiskey once was and might be again. For many participants, this will have been their first encounter with a McConnell's single malt of this age, and it was a memorable one. The BWW 2021 programme was rich with Ulster whiskey heritage — those who wanted to go deeper into the island's distilling story could turn to Session 83: Bushmills History MasterClass for a more scholarly immersion, or explore the contemporary craft of Northern Ireland's most storied distillery through Session 2: Bushmills Core Malts.

The global reach of BWW 2021 was evident in the logistical arrangements around this session. Participants in the USA, Australia, Sweden, across Europe, and throughout Ireland — North and South — were all catered for, with a localised depot collection option that kept costs manageable and the festival genuinely accessible across the sheugh and beyond. It was a practical expression of something Belfast Whiskey Week has always understood: that the love of good whiskey doesn't stop at any border, and that a festival rooted in this tír should speak to the world. For those curious about which other expressions featured across the 2021 programme, the BWW Whiskey Map remains a fine place to begin exploring.

Session 3 may have been titled an introduction, but it was no mere taster. McConnell's brought enough substance across those three glasses to leave a lasting impression — and to make the case, quietly but convincingly, that Belfast whiskey is back, and it has stories worth hearing. Sláinte.