W.D. O'Connell Cask Strength MasterClass | Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

On a warm July evening in 2024, the Duke of York played host to one of the festival's most talked-about sessions — a single cask, cask strength MasterClass from W.D. O'Connell Whiskey Merchants, led by the company's founder and guiding spirit, Daithí O'Connell. For those lucky enough to have secured a seat at Session 84, this was Belfast Whiskey Week at its most intimate and its most thrilling.

About This Event

A Fantastic chance to meet the founder of W.D. O’Connell Whiskey Merchants; Daithí O'Connell. Daithí is a true enthusiast and is dedicated to bring us Premium whiskies with all the integrity and transparency that a real whiskey drinker deserves. Daithí has already started to gain cult status and is a hero in the Irish Whiskey Industry by supporting the new distilleries and releasing exquisite whiskies from both Ireland and Scotland. Big things to come from W.D. O’Connell - and this Festival we will be treated to cask strength whiskies - something they are renowned for!

Looking Back

There are presenters who know their subject, and then there are people who live it. Daithí O'Connell belongs firmly in the second camp. From the moment he opened proceedings at the Duke of York — one of Belfast's most storied and beloved bars, its ceiling still draped in decades of memorabilia and good craic — it was clear that this wasn't going to be a polished corporate pitch. This was seanchas: genuine story-sharing, the kind of knowledge passed on with warmth and without pretension.

W.D. O'Connell Whiskey Merchants occupies a distinctive space in the Irish whiskey landscape. The brand selects and releases single cask expressions from both Irish and Scottish distilleries, with an unwavering commitment to transparency — distillery named, cask numbered, nothing hidden. In an industry that has sometimes been coy about origins, that honesty feels like a quiet act of integrity. Daithí has built something of a cult following among serious whiskey drinkers, and attending this session made it easy to understand why. He speaks about casks the way a farmer might speak about land — with deep respect, a little obsession, and the kind of patience that only comes from genuine love of the craft.

The whiskies themselves were the real revelation. Each expression arrived at cask strength — uncut, unchillfiltered, delivered to the glass exactly as it emerged from the wood. Attendees were encouraged to add a drop of water if they wished, watching the liquid bloom and open up, releasing layers that a standard bottling strength might never have surrendered. The selection moved between Irish and Scottish casks, drawing out the contrasts and the surprising commonalities between the two great uisce beatha traditions. It was the kind of comparative tasting that reminds you just how much geography, grain, and oak can say when they're given the space to speak.

For those who have followed Belfast Whiskey Week's deeper dives into Irish whiskey, sessions like this sit alongside the festival's long tradition of serious, education-led experiences. Fans of cask strength exploration may also want to revisit Session 23's Bushmills Cask Strength Mini-MasterClass, or the extraordinary depth on offer in Session 50's Bushmills Causeway Collection MasterClass — both of which shared that same spirit of getting under the skin of what's actually in the bottle.

What lingered after the session — alongside the warm finish of those cask strength drams — was a sense of genuine optimism about where Irish whiskey is going. Daithí O'Connell is one of those figures quietly shaping the next chapter of the island's whiskey story, championing new distilleries and rare casks with equal enthusiasm. To spend an hour in his company at the Duke of York, glass in hand, was a reminder of why Belfast Whiskey Week matters: not just as a celebration of what's already great, but as a gathering place for what's still becoming. Sláinte mhaith.

More from Belfast Whiskey Week

• Session 83: Bushmills History (MasterClass)
• Session 1: Bushmills New Cask Finish Range (Introduction)
• Session 2: Bushmills Core Malts (Introduction)
• Session 22: Sexton Deconstruction (Showcase)
• Session 23: Bushmills Cask strength (Mini-MasterClass)
• Session 50: Bushmills Causeway Collection (MasterClass)

Explore the full programme on the Belfast Whiskey Week Whiskey Map.