Powers Whiskey History & Tasting | 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: 5 min
Ref: BWW/23/300

On a Wednesday afternoon in October 2023, the low-ceilinged warmth of White's Tavern — Belfast's oldest surviving tavern — became the perfect setting for a deep dive into one of Irish whiskey's most storied names. Powers: History, Legacy & Taste brought Midleton Distillery Archivist Carol Quinn to the heart of the city to lead a masterclass that was equal parts seanchas and sensory revelation. For anyone who has ever reached for a bottle of Powers and wondered at the weight of history in their hand, this was the afternoon that answered every question they never knew they had.

About This Event

Powers History & Tasting – Join Midleton Distillery Archivist Carol Quinn and learn about one of Ireland’s oldest whiskey brands. Featuring a tasting of the current Powers Whiskey family and a taste of some Powers from the John’s Lane Distillery in Dublin. Prepared to take a detailed trip down memory lane, whiskey lanes and John’s Lane. Get a taste of the New Powers Rye, Three Swallow and John’s Lane as well as two special expressions including Powers pre-1980.

Timeslot: 3pm-6pm

Start Time: 3pm Duration: 2hrs

Venue: Whites Tavern

Drinks: 3 Drams

Type: Talk

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

Carol Quinn is, in the truest sense of the word, a keeper of duchas — of inherited tradition and living memory. As archivist for one of the world's most significant whiskey operations, she arrived not with slides and statistics alone, but with the kind of intimate knowledge that only comes from years spent among ledgers, labels, and the ghosts of John's Lane. Her talk traced the Powers story from its Dublin origins in 1791, through the golden era of the John's Lane Distillery on Thomas Street, and into the modern expressions that continue to carry that lineage forward. The room, a full house for a three-hour session, leaned in from the first word.

The tasting itself was generously structured across five expressions, beginning with the current Powers family — the approachable Three Swallow, the characterful Gold Label, and the more recent Rye expression that signals a confident new chapter for the brand. Powers Three Swallow remains a beautifully composed Irish blend, all orchard fruit and soft spice, while the Rye offered something genuinely exciting: a grain-forward boldness that felt like the brand stretching its legs after two centuries of tradition. Then came the John's Lane Release, that single pot still expression that acts as a kind of direct line to the distillery's pre-closure heritage — rich, waxy, and unambiguously Irish in every molecule.

But it was the two special expressions that drew the deepest silence from the room. A pre-1980 Powers, drawn from a time when John's Lane itself was still producing, was passed around with the reverence it deserved. The colour alone — deep amber edging toward mahogany — told of decades quietly spent. On the nose, something almost leathery and ecclesiastical; on the palate, a layered softness that no amount of craft alone can manufacture. Time had done its work. To taste it in 2023 was to feel the tír beneath the spirit — the place and the people who made it. This is precisely the kind of encounter that island and heritage-focused sessions elsewhere in the festival also aspired to deliver, and Powers delivered it with uncommon grace.

White's Tavern proved a quietly inspired venue choice. There is something right about discussing centuries-old whiskey in a room that itself has been pouring drink since the 1630s. The low beams and close atmosphere meant conversations between strangers spilled naturally from the formal tasting into something more personal — the sharing of memories, of family bottles, of first drams. That communal warmth is the very spirit of Belfast Whiskey Week, and this session had it in full measure. Those who attended will know that the wider Midleton family of expressions carries a consistent ambition for quality across every label it touches, and Powers is among the finest expressions of that philosophy.

If there was any reflection to take home beyond the pleasant echo of the drams themselves, it was this: Powers is not a nostalgia project. Carol Quinn made that abundantly clear. The history is real and worth honouring, but the brand is genuinely moving forward — in new grain selections, new maturation thinking, and a new generation of drinkers finding their way to it. For those who missed this session and want to explore the broader conversation around whiskey culture and community, the festival's discussion on whiskey clubs and why they matter offered a complementary perspective on why this kind of shared appreciation endures. Sláinte mhaith to Carol, to Powers, and to every soul who spent their Wednesday afternoon in good company at White's.