WolfBurn Mini-MasterClass – Belfast Whiskey Week 2021

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

Filed: 24 Jul 2021
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 4 min
Ref: BWW/21/580

On the afternoon of 24th July 2021, Belfast Whiskey Week turned its gaze north and east — across the sheugh and over the water to the very tip of mainland Scotland — for Session 89: a WolfBurn Mini-MasterClass that brought one of the Highlands' most quietly compelling distilleries into sharp, delicious focus. Three remarkable drams, three 50ml samples, and a good deal to think about: this was exactly the kind of encounter that makes the festival worth coming back to, year after year.

About This Event

This tasting includes 3 x 50ml Samples & Glass and will take place on the 24th @ 15:30.

This tasting comprises of:

Quarter Cask Whiskey - Father's Day, 2nd Fill Ex-Islay Bourbon Quarter Casks, 980 botles - 54.2%
Sherry Aged Whisky, 2nd Fill Sherry Hogshead, 320 Bottles - 56.9%
The Kylver Series - 8 "Wunjo", Oloroso Sherry Methuselah, 980 Bottles - 52.8%

Tasting packs will be posted out to you, but may not arrive in time for the tastings. If you wish to collect the pack in Belfast to ensure you have it in time, please contact grace@belfastwhiskeyweek.com after you order.

Looking Back

WolfBurn sits near Thurso in Caithness, close to the northernmost point of the Scottish mainland — a place where the land feels ancient and the wind has opinions. The distillery is one of the newer faces of Scottish whisky, having opened in 2013 on the site of a nineteenth-century predecessor, yet it carries itself with the quiet confidence of a producer that knows what it's doing and sees no need to shout about it. That understated character made it a natural fit for BWW 2021's Mini-MasterClass format: intimate, focused, and genuinely illuminating.

The session opened with the Quarter Cask expression — a Father's Day release matured in second-fill ex-Islay bourbon quarter casks and bottled at 54.2%. Just 980 bottles were produced, and the influence of those Islay casks was unmistakable: a thread of coastal smoke woven through the spirit without overwhelming WolfBurn's characteristic floral and honeyed core. At cask strength, it asked to be taken seriously, and those who did were rewarded with a dram of real complexity. The smaller cask format had accelerated interaction with the wood, giving the whisky a density that belied its relatively young age.

The second pour shifted the register entirely. A sherry-aged expression from a second-fill sherry hogshead — bottled at 56.9% from a run of just 320 bottles — this was the rarest liquid of the trio and felt like it. Rich and concentrated, with the dried fruit and dark spice you'd expect from good sherry maturation, it nonetheless retained a freshness that prevented it from tipping into heaviness. The low bottling number gave the whole room a slight sense of occasion; attendees were well aware they were tasting something that most whisky drinkers would never encounter.

The Kylver Series closed proceedings in style. 'Wunjo' — the eighth release in WolfBurn's ongoing exploration of runic symbolism — was matured in an Oloroso Sherry Methuselah and bottled at 52.8% across 980 bottles. A Methuselah holds the equivalent of eight standard bottles of wine, and using one as a maturation vessel produces a distinctive, somewhat gentler interaction with the spirit than a conventional cask. The result here was elegant and layered: the sherry influence present but refined, the underlying distillery character singing clearly through it. It was a fitting final note — a dram that rewarded attention and left people reaching instinctively for their glasses again. Those who wanted more context from the wider festival programme could explore sessions like the Session 22 Sexton Deconstruction Showcase or, closer to home, the Session 83 Bushmills History MasterClass, both of which shared BWW 2021's commitment to going beyond the bottle and into the story behind the spirit.

Tasting packs were posted out ahead of the event, though the festival team — characteristically thoughtful about these things — offered Belfast-based attendees the option to collect in person and ensure they had their samples ready in time. It was a small logistical detail, but it spoke to the care that underpins BWW at every level. For those who attended Session 89, the afternoon offered something rare: a chance to sit with three limited-release expressions from a Scottish distillery that deserves far more attention than it typically receives, guided through the uisce beatha with the kind of knowledge and warmth that the festival has always done best. If WolfBurn wasn't already on your radar, it certainly was by 16:30 on the 24th of July. You can explore more from the 2021 programme — including the Session 50 Bushmills Causeway Collection MasterClass — and find your next discovery on our Whiskey Map.