Tasmania Whiskey Takeover Dinner – 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/23/372

There are nights at Belfast Whiskey Week that feel like something more than an event — nights that feel like a meeting of kindred spirits, a convergence of two islands that have more in common than geography might suggest. The Tasmania Whiskey Takeover Dinner, held on Friday 21st October 2023 at the magnificent Waterman House, was exactly that kind of night. Eight distilleries had made the long journey from the southern hemisphere to sit at our table, and Belfast — being Belfast — made sure it was a table worth travelling for.

About This Event

Working in Partnership with Waterman House and our Guests, we have curated a bespoke Fine Dinning Experience to Welcome to Belfast; the Brands and Distilleries from Tasmania who have made the Round the World Trip to bring the tastes of the Island of Tasmania to our Island. We want you to come and give a Big Belfast Welcome to our guests and celebrate their wonderful produce, during a 5 course bespoke meal, that integrates ingredients and produce from the other side of the globe, with local produce, at the hands of one of Belfast’s Finest Chef’s at one of Belfast’s most sought after Restaurants. This year, the Festival welcomes 8 Whiskey Brands from Tasmania to showcase their whiskey and rediscover the connections they have with Belfast and beyond. If you are from Tasmania, or have any connection or affinity with the Island, then we welcome you to our opening dinner of the festival. Come for the craic, the food and the whiskey (Wine also).

Timeslot: 6pm-9pm

Start Time: 6pm

Duration: 3hrs

Venue: WatermanHouse

Drinks: 5 Drams

Type: Dinner

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

The uisce beatha flowed from the south of the world that evening, as eight Tasmanian whiskey brands brought their bottles, their stories, and their warmth to the heart of Belfast city centre. Tasmania is a place that carries its own dúchas — a deep, wild sense of belonging to its land — and you could taste it in the glass. These are distilleries rooted in an island defined by clean air, ancient wilderness, and water that whiskey makers would cross oceans for. Which, as it turned out, is precisely what they did.

Waterman House, a venue that marries its own considerable heritage with the demands of a serious modern hospitality experience, proved the ideal setting. The five-course dinner was curated in genuine partnership between the festival, the Tasmanian producers, and Waterman's kitchen — a thoughtful weaving of ingredients and produce from both ends of the earth. What emerged was a meal that was as much conversation as cuisine: local Ulster produce in dialogue with flavours from the other side of the globe, each course paired with drams that rewarded attention. This was fine dining in the truest sense — not stiff or self-important, but generous and considered.

The gathering had a particular spirit of homecoming to it. Tasmania's whiskey renaissance is one of the great stories of the craft spirits world, and yet the island has deep, sometimes forgotten, threads of connection with Ireland and Ulster. Some in the room had those connections; others were simply curious. Both were equally welcome. The festival had issued an open invitation — if you're from Tasmania, have family there, or simply feel that pull of affinity with an island people — and the room reflected exactly that generous intent. The craic, as promised, was genuine.

Five drams across the evening gave guests a real opportunity to explore the range and character that Tasmanian whiskey now commands on the world stage — from softer, malt-forward expressions to bolder, cask-influenced pours that would hold their own in any company. Paired alongside wine for those who wanted it, and underpinned by the skill of one of Belfast's finest chefs, the evening never felt like a tasting masquerading as dinner. It was a dinner, fully realised, with whiskey at its heart. If you're curious about the other fine dining experiences BWW 2023 had to offer, the Redbreast Fine Dining event at Waterman Restaurant and the Urban Scullery Supper Club give a sense of just how seriously the festival takes the table as a place of whiskey discovery.

As an opening night for the festival, the Tasmania Takeover set a tone that was hard to better: ambitious in concept, warm in execution, and rooted in the belief that whiskey is, at its best, a reason to bring people together across great distances. Sláinte mhaith to every distiller who made the round-the-world trip. Belfast remembered the welcome, and the whiskey.