Shortcross x Oh Donuts Pairing | Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

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

Filed: 23 Jul 2024
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/24/940

There are whiskey events, and then there are the ones that earn a second sitting before the first has even finished. Session 44 of Belfast Whiskey Week 2024 — Taste the Festival: Oh Donuts Collaboration (Session 2) — was firmly in the latter camp. Returning by popular demand, this pairing session brought together three whiskies and three bespoke donuts from Belfast's beloved Oh Donuts, with Shortcross, OutWalker, and McConnell's each lending their character to a creation that was as much about joy as it was about craft.

About This Event

Back by popular demand! Our collaboration with Oh Donuts is just so much fun! 3 bespoke donuts with their respective whiskies for you to sample. Session 2 includes: ShortCross, OutWalker & McConnell's. You'll not go hungry - or thirsty for that matter.

Looking Back

If the uisce beatha is the soul of any whiskey week, then the food that accompanies it is the craic — and this session had both in abundance. Oh Donuts, already a firm favourite on the Belfast food scene, arrived with three donuts designed specifically around the whiskies on the table. The brief was simple and inspired in equal measure: take the flavour profile of each dram and find it something sweet, doughy, and delicious to call home. The results were a reminder that the best pairings don't compete — they converse.

Shortcross opened the session, bringing with it the quiet confidence that has come to define Rademon Estate's craft whiskey offering. From the rolling drumlin country of County Down, Shortcross distils with a botanical sensibility informed by years of award-winning gin-making — and that elegance came through clearly. The accompanying donut matched its delicacy without overpowering it, a pairing that rewarded those who slowed down long enough to notice what was happening on the palate. It was duchas in a bite and a sip: something rooted in a particular place, expressing itself with quiet pride.

OutWalker and McConnell's followed in turn, each bringing their own personality to the table and prompting the kind of animated table conversation that whiskey at its best always does. McConnell's — a name with deep roots in Belfast's whiskey history — felt especially at home in a festival setting like this, its approachable warmth making it an easy crowd-pleaser. The three-whiskey format kept the session focused without ever feeling rushed, and the donuts gave everyone something to talk about even before the first sip.

What made this event work, beyond the obvious novelty, was its genuine sense of fun. Belfast Whiskey Week has always held space for sessions that take the liquid seriously without taking themselves too seriously — and the Oh Donuts collaboration landed squarely in that tradition. The room was full, the mood was light, and the empties at the end of the table told their own story. For those who also explored the festival's more structured offerings, sessions like the Sexton Deconstruction Showcase or the Bushmills Causeway Collection MasterClass provided a compelling counterpoint — but there was something to be said for arriving at understanding through pleasure rather than pedagogy.

At £25 a head, Session 44 offered exceptional value: three whiskies, three donuts, and a shared table with people who'd turned up in exactly the right spirit. Sláinte to Oh Donuts, to Shortcross and the other brands who gave their liquid to the cause, and to everyone who made it into the room. If the call goes out again in 2025, our advice is simple — don't wait for Session 2.