Walking With Marty | Belfast Whiskey Week 2023 Tour Review

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

Filed: 15 Jul 2023
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/23/604

There are walking tours, and then there's Walking With Marty. On the evening of Friday 21st October 2023, a small gathering of whiskey lovers met Marty McAuley outside City Hall — comfy shoes on, layers applied, spirits (of the inner variety) already lifted — and set off into Belfast for three hours of uisce beatha, storytelling, and the kind of craic that no ticketing system could ever fully capture.

About This Event

There’s no easier way to put this: Put your comfy shoes on, dress for Belfast Weather, grab yer ticket and meet me at City Hall. I’ll be wearing clothes. Easy to find sure, with a Whiskey Week sign. Once all the stragglers get here - we’re off! Then it’s just me, you, and a handful of other chaps and lassies, as we dander about Belfast in search of good craic, good whiskey and good places to tell my stories. This walking tour is full of food, whiskies and me imparting the impartiality, expelling the experiences and holding forth the history of this Great Whiskey City. No need to eat before hand - I’ll feed and water you, promise - Marty McAuley Timeslot: 6pm-9pm Start Time: 6pm Duration: 3hrs Venue: Multiple Locations Drinks: 5 Drams Type: Walking Tour Walking: Be Prepared to Walk around Belfast. Some of the areas & venues may not be fully accessible, please contact us @belfastwhiskeyweek on socials, or via email on marketing@belfastwhiskeyweek.com or 07773675179 (8am-8pm) to discuss. 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 briefing was simple enough: meet Marty at City Hall, look for the Whiskey Week sign, and don't be late — though stragglers, as ever, were tolerated with good humour. What followed was something that sits somewhere between a guided tour, a tasting session, and an evening with a friend who simply knows far too much about whiskey to keep it to himself. Marty McAuley is one of those figures Belfast produces occasionally — someone who carries the seanchas of a place lightly, wearing it like a well-worn coat rather than a formal gown. He didn't lecture. He talked, and the city talked back through the streets, the pubs, and the drams poured along the way.

Five drams across multiple venues made up the liquid thread of the evening, with food woven in at intervals — a promise Marty made good on, meaning there was no need to have eaten beforehand. This wasn't a pub crawl dressed up in whiskey language; it was a considered journey through Belfast's relationship with the water of life, told through the places that still carry that duchas, that sense of belonging to somewhere specific and irreplaceable. Each stop offered something new — a different expression, a different corner of the city, a different story pulled from Marty's seemingly inexhaustible reserves.

Belfast Whiskey Week has always held that the city itself is part of the tasting experience, and events like this one make that argument most compellingly. The sheugh between a whiskey education and a genuine night out dissolved completely here — you weren't being taught at, you were being brought along. For those who wanted to explore the city's whiskey geography beyond the tour itself, our Whiskey Map offers a useful companion for any further dandering.

It's worth noting that Walking With Marty sat alongside a wider programme of Belfast walking experiences that evening and throughout the week. Those who enjoyed this style of exploration would have found kindred spirits in Belfast Hidden Tours: Walking, Whiskies & Whispers and Belfast Walking Tours: Belfast's Public Houses & Art Trail — each bringing its own lens to the tír beneath our feet, and each making the case that the best way to understand a whiskey city is to walk it. Three hours, five drams, one city. Sláinte mhaith to everyone who joined Marty that Friday night.