Two Stacks Distillery Day – Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

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

Filed: 19 Jul 2024
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/24/932

Some festival events ask you to come to the whiskey. This one put everyone on a bus and took them straight to it. On the 19th of July 2024, Belfast Whiskey Week's first Distillery Day of the festival rolled south out of Belfast, bound for Newry and the warm, welcoming world of Two Stacks Irish Whiskey — and if the craic was good on the journey down, it was only a foretaste of what was waiting at the gaff.

About This Event

BUS TRIP....YAAAAAAAAAAAS - It's that part of the Festival, were everyone wants to be! - On a bus down to Two Stacks Irish Whiskey based in Newry - 45 mins from Belfast - we whisk you down for a show-stopping treat. Drinking from the cask you say? - Yes, Local Food? - Yes, Entertainment? - Of Course - The Lads at Two Stacks know how to throw a party - they also know plenty about great Irish Whiskies - they have barrels of it... Guess what? - You'll also get the chance to pick up something VERY, VERY, VERY Special on this trip - Not to be missed if you want to experience our first Distillery Day of the Festival!

Looking Back

There is something almost ritual about a distillery visit — a journey towards the source, a chance to meet the uisce beatha on its own tír. Two Stacks is a brand that has been building quietly and deliberately out of Newry, earning its reputation through cask finishing and secondary maturation that genuinely stands apart from the crowd. Arriving at their warehouse wasn't just a tick on a festival itinerary; it felt like being let in on something. The kind of welcome that speaks of duchas — a real belonging to place — rather than a rehearsed tour.

The headline promise was drinking from the cask, and Two Stacks delivered. Guests pulled whiskey direct from the barrel in surroundings that made the whole thing feel less like a tasting and more like a privilege. The lads at Two Stacks clearly know how to host — local food was laid on, the entertainment was proper, and the atmosphere had the easy warmth of people who are proud of what they've made and genuinely glad to share it. Sláinte wasn't just said here; it was meant.

But the whispers on the bus down had been about something else entirely — something described in the event listing as Very, Very, Very Special. True to their word, Two Stacks gave attendees the chance to pick up an exclusive, limited release that wasn't available anywhere else. That kind of seanchas — the story of being there, of having had your hands on something rare — is exactly what distillery days are for. Plenty of festivals offer tastings; fewer offer moments.

The Two Stacks Distillery Day was the first of several off-site adventures in BWW 2024's programme. If you're curious how the other distillery experiences compared, Echlinville's Distillery Day and the Copeland Distillery Day each brought their own distinct character to the week. And if a warehouse setting is what speaks to you, Two Stacks also hosted the Welcome to the Bond experience during the festival — a more intimate look at how their maturation magic actually works.

Forty-five minutes south of Belfast, down past the sheugh-seamed drumlin country of South Down, Two Stacks have built something worth the journey. The 2024 Distillery Day confirmed what the whiskey community has been quietly noting for a while: this is a producer with real conviction and real hospitality to match. The bus home was — let's say — a lively affair.