Rattlebag Whiskey Cocktail Workshop | Belfast Whiskey Week 2023

On a Friday afternoon in July 2023, the warm amber light of Ann Street welcomed a gathering of whiskey lovers and cocktail curious alike into Rattlebag, Belfast's spirited home of the craft cocktail. This wasn't just a tasting — it was a deep, convivial dive into the origins of the American cocktail tradition, led by two guides who knew their subject with real authority and genuine enthusiasm.

About This Event

Looking Back

There's a particular kind of pleasure in learning something you thought you already knew. Rattlebag's Art and History of Whiskey Cocktails workshop, held as part of Belfast Whiskey Week 2023, delivered exactly that kind of revelation. Co-founder and head bartender Matthew Knight, a familiar and reassuring presence behind the Rattlebag bar, paired up with Dylan Jacob, Brand Ambassador for Wild Turkey, to lead participants through an afternoon that was as educational as it was enjoyable. Between them, they carried the session with the easy authority of people who have both studied and lived their subject.

The opening tasting session, helmed by Dylan Jacob, set the tone beautifully. Wild Turkey is a Kentucky institution — a distillery that has been producing bourbon and rye with uncompromising character since the 1940s — and Jacob's evident love for the brand translated into something genuinely illuminating. Attendees moved through the story of bourbon and rye whiskey not as a dry recitation of dates and regulations, but as a living tradition, with each dram adding texture to the tale. The emphasis on rye in particular resonated, given how central it has been to the cocktail canon from the very beginning of that tradition.

And what a tradition it is. The heart of the afternoon was a journey through three of the great foundational cocktails — the Old-Fashioned, the Sazerac, and the Whiskey Daisy — drinks whose origins stretch back to the late nineteenth century, when American bartenders were quietly laying the groundwork for all of modern drinking culture. There was a real sense of seanchas — of old knowledge being passed down and honoured — in the way Matthew Knight traced the lineage of these drinks, explaining not just the recipes but the reasoning behind them, the social contexts they emerged from, and why they endure. These aren't relics; they're blueprints.

The hands-on segment was, by all accounts, the highlight. Participants moved from the role of audience to that of practitioner, stepping behind the bar to make their own cocktails under the guidance of Rattlebag's team. Stirring versus shaking — a debate that sounds simple until you're standing at a bar with a glass in hand and realise how much technique and intention lie in each movement — became a lived lesson rather than a theoretical one. Three bespoke cocktails were crafted over the course of the afternoon, each one building on the knowledge that had come before. Rattlebag, which launched in March 2020 as a spirit-forward contemporary cocktail bar, is the ideal setting for this kind of immersive learning; the space is designed for exactly this combination of craft, warmth, and curiosity.

The session closed with an intimate Q&A — the sort of open, unhurried conversation that rarely happens in larger events but flourishes in a room of around fifteen people who've just spent two and a half hours learning together. If you missed this session, a second run of the same workshop was available during the festival, and both events speak to the value Rattlebag and Wild Turkey place on genuine education over spectacle. For those exploring the wider whiskey landscape of Belfast and beyond, our Whiskey Map is a fine place to start. Sláinte mhath.

More from Belfast Whiskey Week

• 22: Rattlebag: Unleash your Cocktail Craftsmanship: "The Art (and History) of Whiskey Cocktails" Workshop

Explore the full programme on the Belfast Whiskey Week Whiskey Map.

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