Whisky & Witches: Mythical Beasts – Belfast Whiskey Week 2023

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

Filed: 15 Jul 2023
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 5 min
Ref: BWW/23/572

On a Sunday afternoon in October 2023, the Music Hall at the Deer's Head was transformed into something altogether otherworldly. Whisky & Witches — the immersive tasting concept built around Spiritfilled's rare cask bottlings — brought their Mythical Beasts show to Belfast Whiskey Week, and those lucky enough to hold a ticket found themselves stepping out of the familiar and into the realm of folklore, fire and uisce beatha. It was, by any measure, one of the most singular events in the festival's calendar that year.

About This Event

“Whisky & Witches presents Mythical Beasts: An Immersive, Mystical, Musical Whisky Tasting” A magical, musical whisky tasting by female forces! 5 exclusive whiskies, gripping storytelling and hauntingly beautiful music and song. Travel with us to the realm where folklore, exceptional whisky and mystical music meet in perfect harmony. Stimulating all the senses to create the ultimate experience. Experience the Mythical Beasts of Spiritfilled’s extraordinary whiskies come alive in this immersive whisky tasting. The very nature of the beasts are highlighted and beautifully connected to the characteristics and birthplace of each dram, through enchanting music and storytelling. Letting the experience of each whisky capture all your senses. WHAT DO YOU GET? • A guided tasting of 5 unique, cask strength whiskies from distilleries across Scotland. • A fusion of Nordic and Celtic folk music, interpreted in new symphonic ways! • Original music and song by international singer and composer Christine Kammerer • 4 captivating, tailored stories. A fusion of folklore from across the globe • Insight into the feminine powers of nature and their connection to the whiskies Spiritfilled is a whisky company that seeks out rare and special single malt casks to bottle. They have a strong reputation for seeking out the gems in the world of whisky, to share with fellow whisky lovers and explorers. Previously, Spiritfilled has featured beautiful expressions such as a 30 YO Bruichladdich, a 14 YO Port Charlotte and a 32 YO Fettercairn, and the whiskies embodied by the Mythical Beasts are just as exceptional. Timeslot: 3pm-6pm Start Time: 3pm Duration: 2hrs Venue: Music Hall @ Deer's Head Drinks: 5 Drams Type: Theatrical 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

From the moment the lights shifted in the Music Hall, it was clear that Mythical Beasts was not a conventional whisky tasting. This was a fully staged, sensory experience — one where each of five cask-strength Scottish single malts was introduced not by a brand ambassador with a clipboard, but by a story drawn from the deep well of global folklore, told with the kind of conviction that made the room lean in and go quiet. The seanchas tradition — that ancient art of story-carrying — felt genuinely alive here, transported across water and given new breath in Belfast's oldest pub quarter.

At the heart of it all was Christine Kammerer, international singer and composer, whose original music wove Nordic and Celtic folk traditions into something symphonic and strange. Her voice filled the room between each dram, binding the tasting notes to the mythology as though the two had always belonged together. The feminine energies of nature — those forces that run through the tír, through peat bog and mountain loch alike — were the connective tissue of the whole evening, giving the whiskies a context that went far beyond the glass. It was the kind of creative framing that makes you taste differently, more slowly, more honestly.

Spiritfilled, the Edinburgh-based independent bottler behind the concept, is a company with a serious eye for exceptional casks. Their back catalogue speaks for itself — a 30-year-old Bruichladdich, a 32-year-old Fettercairn — and the five expressions poured at Mythical Beasts sat comfortably in that company. Each whisky was presented at cask strength, drawing the attendee deeper into its character: the coastal salt and mineral weight of one dram, the dark fruit and spice of another, all reframed through the lens of the creature whose story had just been told. It was, in the truest sense, a guided journey. If you're curious about other experiences we've hosted with independent bottlers and distillers, our Whiskey Map is a good place to start exploring the geography of the drams that have come through our doors.

The Music Hall at the Deer's Head proved a fitting vessel for the occasion. There is an intimacy to that room — low ceilings, warm light, the faint sense that the building itself has heard a few stories — that suited the theatrical ambition of Whisky & Witches perfectly. It held the mood without overwhelming it. By the time the final dram was poured and the last note faded, the room seemed reluctant to return to the ordinary world. Sláinte was raised with genuine warmth. The event ran for a full three hours and, in retrospect, that felt about right — long enough to go somewhere, brief enough to leave you wanting more. Such was the demand that Mythical Beasts ran across multiple sessions during the week; you can see the second session, the third, and the fourth listed in our archive, each one a chance for more festival-goers to find their way into the story.

What Whisky & Witches: Mythical Beasts demonstrated, more than anything, was that whisky tasting at its best is not simply an exercise in flavour identification — it is a cultural act, a form of duchas, a way of connecting liquid to landscape, legend and lived experience. Belfast Whiskey Week exists to create exactly these kinds of encounters, and in 2023, this was one of the finest examples of what that can look like when creative ambition and genuine quality meet in the same room.