Timorous Beasties Dinner | Douglas Laing | Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

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

Filed: 24 Jul 2024
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/24/996

Some evenings at Belfast Whiskey Week linger long after the last dram is drained — and the Timorous Beasties Urban Scullery Takeover, held in July 2024, was exactly that kind of night. Douglas Laing, the family-run Glasgow independent bottler whose cask-hunting instincts have been sharp since 1948, brought four expressions from their celebrated Timorous Beasties range to the table — quite literally — in a bespoke dinner that matched uisce beatha to some of the finest cooking the festival has seen. Chef Jonny Stevenson of Urban Scullery guided guests through a culinary journey that felt less like a ticketed event and more like being welcomed into someone's home, the best kind of seanchas shared between plate and glass.

About This Event

A bespoke Dinner consisting of 4 Drams from Douglas Laings Timorous Beastie Whiskies with Food representing the best of Scottish Cuisine. Jonny Stevenson (genius) from Urban Scullery will take us on a culinary journey through four dishes - complementing the whiskies. If you have never been to one of Jonny's Supper Clubs then this is your chance (usually they are only on once a month - well in July, there are three this week!!)

Looking Back

The setting was intimate and deliberate, the kind of evening where the room itself seemed to lean in. Four drams, four dishes, and a chef whose Supper Club reputation precedes him — Jonny Stevenson runs Urban Scullery's monthly gatherings with the instincts of someone who understands that food, like whisky, is duchas: something inherited, something earned, something worth sharing properly. For many guests, this was their first encounter with one of his suppers, and the reaction was telling. Three Supper Clubs in one July week was an extraordinary gift to Belfast Whiskey Week, and this one felt particularly charged.

The Timorous Beasties range itself gave Jonny real creative latitude. Douglas Laing's blended malt — drawing on Highland character, typically rich with heather honey, dried fruit, and a gentle coastal lift — offers layers that reward thoughtful pairing rather than fighting it. Each expression brought something distinct to the table: the kind of breadth you'd expect from an independent bottler with decades of cask knowledge and no obligation to smooth things out for mass appeal. Braw stuff, as our friends across the sheugh might say, and worth every sip. Explore the full Douglas Laing range here if the Beasties have your attention.

What made this session exceptional was the parity between the two crafts on show. Jonny's dishes weren't garnishes to the whisky, nor was the whisky a sideline to the food — they arrived as equals, each pulling the other into sharper focus. Scottish cuisine at its considered best: honest ingredients, no unnecessary fuss, a clear sense of tír in every component. Guests who had come primarily for the whisky left talking about the food, and vice versa. That kind of crossover is harder to engineer than it looks, and when it works, it works entirely.

Belfast Whiskey Week 2024 was rich with fine drinking across both islands, and events like this one — rooted in Scottish whisky tradition but finding their fullest expression here in Belfast — capture something important about what the festival is for. The week has always been a place where borders soften and the glass does the talking. If you want to trace where the whisky itself travels, our Whiskey Map gives a sense of the remarkable geography at play. And if you missed this particular evening, you can revisit the original event page to see what all the fuss was about — and perhaps keep your eyes open for the next time the Beasties come calling. Slàinte mhath.

The Brand: Douglas Laing

Family-run since 1948, Douglas Laing hunts down exceptional Scotch whisky casks. Their Remarkable Regional Malts range covers Scotland with real depth.