Titanic Distillers After-Hours Session – 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/24/228

There are evenings at Belfast Whiskey Week that linger long after the last dram is finished, and Session 55 — A Night with Titanic Distillers — was emphatically one of them. On the evening of 24th July 2024, the doors of Thompson Dock swung open after hours, offering a privileged gathering of whiskey lovers an experience woven from place, craft, and genuine Ulster fáilte. It was, in the truest sense, uisce beatha served with soul.

About This Event

A fantastic opportunity to Experience the Titanic Distillears at Thompson Dock after hours. A very special event, showcasing fine food, great whiskies and superb hospitality. This experience is bespoke to the Festival, however it is a reflection of the wonderful daily experiences provided throughout the year. Be prepared to be spoiled and enjoy the tastes of Titanic.

Looking Back

To step into Session 55 was to step into something that felt entirely apart from the everyday — which, given the setting, was rather the point. Titanic Distillers sits at Thompson Dock in Belfast's Titanic Quarter, and the weight of that duchas, that inherited sense of place and purpose, is impossible to ignore. The dry dock where the Olympic and Titanic were once floated sits just outside, and the distillery itself carries that same monumental ambition translated into something altogether more convivial: the making of fine Irish whiskey in Belfast for the first time in nearly ninety years.

The evening unfolded as a showcase of what Titanic Distillers does so naturally throughout the year — bespoke hospitality that refuses to feel transactional. Guests were guided through a carefully considered food and whiskey pairing, each course and each dram chosen to complement and illuminate the other. The kitchen matched the ambition of the distillery: thoughtful, locally grounded, and confident. Where so many pairings lean on the whiskey alone to carry proceedings, this one was a genuine conversation between plate and glass. Sláinte felt inadequate — this demanded a longer toast.

Titanic Distillers is no stranger to the festival stage. As one of Belfast Whiskey Week's flagship brands, the distillery is woven through BWW like a thread of new make through a warehouse — present at the Whiskey Expo, hosting Distillery Days and Signature Tours, running cocktail sessions, and lending their spirits to pub takeovers at beloved city institutions like Bittles and Maddens. Session 55 was something different, though: quieter, more intimate, more like being invited into the seanchas of the place rather than observing it from a distance.

For those who attended, the evening served as a reminder of why Thompson Dock is one of the most singular venues in Irish whiskey. The combination of industrial heritage and careful craft production creates an atmosphere that no purpose-built experience centre could replicate. Guests were, as the event description promised, thoroughly spoiled — and not one of them seemed to mind. The after-hours access gave proceedings a particular warmth, a sense that the city had quietened around them while the whiskey conversation carried on inside.

If you're keen to explore more of what Belfast's whiskey landscape has to offer beyond Thompson Dock, our Whiskey Map is a fine place to start planning your next visit. And for those who've developed a taste for the Titanic range, the distillery is very much open year-round — this bespoke evening was a festival flourish, but the spirit of it is available any day you choose to make the journey to Queens Road.