Walsh Whiskey Showcase | Belfast Whiskey Week 2021

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

Filed: 26 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/21/292

On the evening of 26th July 2021, Belfast Whiskey Week's Session 35 brought Walsh Whiskey's finest to the fore in a warm, unhurried Showcase that gave participants space to properly explore two of Ireland's most distinctive whiskey families. Six fifty-millilitre samples, two celebrated ranges, and one very good evening — this was Irish whiskey doing what it does best: drawing people in and keeping them there.

About This Event

This tasting includes 6 x 50ml Samples and will take place on the 26th @ 17:30.

This tasting comprises of:

The Irishman Small Batch
The Irishman 12 year old
The Irishman Marsala Cask Finish
Writers' Tears Marsala Cask Finish
Writers' Tears Copper Pot
Writers' Tears Double Oak

For those in the USA, Australia, Sweden, Europe, the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, you will be able to save on delivery costs by having your package to sent to a localised depot for collection. You will be charged a small fee upon collection, but the cost will be much cheaper than having packs delivered to individual addresses. If you would like to avail of this option, please make a note in the Special Instructions box, and we will contact you at a later date to arrange this and refund your delivery charges.

Looking Back

Walsh Whiskey is a County Carlow enterprise with a clear sense of its own duchas — its own inherited character. Founded by Bernard and Rosemary Walsh, the distillery at Royal Oak has built its reputation on craft, consistency, and a genuine feel for what Irish whiskey can be when it isn't rushing to be anything other than itself. The Irishman and Writers' Tears labels each carry that philosophy with quiet confidence, and Session 35 gave attendees the chance to experience both in depth, across a flight that rewarded attention and rewarded a second sip just as readily as the first.

The tasting opened with The Irishman Small Batch — a blend of single malt and single pot still that sets the tone for the range with characteristic softness and a backbone of real substance. From there, The Irishman 12 Year Old offered a chance to hear what time does to those same qualities: more layered, more considered, the kind of whiskey that earns a slower pace. The Marsala Cask Finish expression then arrived as a gentle surprise — the Italian wine cask adding a plush, fruit-forward warmth that didn't overshadow the whiskey underneath so much as dress it for a night out. It was one of those drams that prompts a pause and a quiet nod of appreciation rather than any rush to commentary.

The Writers' Tears half of the flight carried its own distinct personality. The Marsala Cask Finish echoed the theme of the evening — how a well-chosen finishing cask can lift a whiskey into new territory — while the Copper Pot offered a masterclass in what pot still character really means: spice, orchard fruit, a certain Irish earthiness that sits somewhere between the land and the story told about it. The Double Oak brought the session to a close with richness and warmth, two cask types working together without argument, the seanchas of both oak traditions finding common ground in the glass.

For those joining from further afield — participants in the USA, Australia, Sweden, and across Europe had taken advantage of the localised depot collection option — this kind of curated flight was exactly what made BWW 2021 something worth travelling towards, even in its hybrid form. Six samples at £35 was a straightforward proposition, and Walsh Whiskey's range made good on every penny of it. If you were curious about Irish whiskey but weren't sure where to begin, this session answered that question clearly and kindly. If you were already a devotee, it offered the pleasure of confirmation.

Session 35 sat within a wider BWW 2021 programme that demonstrated real range in its Irish and Ulster whiskey coverage. Elsewhere in the festival, Session 22 deconstructed The Sexton with forensic care, while Session 83 took a long look at Bushmills through a historical lens — the kind of seanchas-rich deep dive that rewards genuine curiosity. For those charting the wider landscape of what Irish and Ulster whiskey has to offer, our Whiskey Map remains a fine place to orient yourself. Sláinte mhaith to everyone who raised a glass with Walsh that evening.