Women in Whiskey Panel – Belfast Whiskey Week 2024

On a warm July evening in 2024, something quietly significant took shape at the Dark Horse as Belfast Whiskey Week welcomed one of its most talked-about sessions of the year. Hosted by the newly formed Belfast whiskey club The Angels' Share, this panel discussion — My Life in Whiskey — brought together some of the most talented women working in the Irish whiskey industry today. It was the kind of evening that felt less like a ticketed event and more like a gathering long overdue.

Filed: 19 Jul 2024
By: Belfast Whiskey Week
Read: 3 min
Ref: BWW/24/164

About This Event

Newly formed whiskey Club in Belfast: The Angels' Share are hosting a panel discussion on Women in Whiskey with a plethora of talented women who have helped shaped the Irish Whiskey Industry. If you are keen to meet Distillers, Ambassadors, Mixologists and other industry professionals, then this is a great opportunity to relax, unwind for the weekend, enjoy a Cocktail from Dublin Liberties Distillery and share a few whiskies and meet like-minded women who want to know more about the industry and Irish Whiskey as a whole.

Looking Back

There's a word in Irish — duchas — that speaks to a sense of belonging, of inheritance, of being rooted in something real. It felt apt for an evening that asked women in whiskey to tell their own stories, in their own voices. The Angels' Share, still finding their feet as a club at the time of Belfast Whiskey Week 2024, made an assured debut as hosts, curating a panel that spanned distillers, brand ambassadors, mixologists and other industry professionals. The room at the Dark Horse was warm, the conversation warmer still.

The format was refreshingly honest — this wasn't a polished corporate showcase, but a genuine panel discussion that gave space to real experience. Attendees heard firsthand what it means to carve a path through an industry that, for much of its history, has been defined by other voices. Stories ranged from the practical to the personal, from the chemistry of the still to the politics of the tasting room, and the cumulative effect was something quietly powerful. The seanchas — the oral tradition of shared knowledge — was very much alive in that room.

Cocktails from Dublin Liberties Distillery kept glasses full throughout, their bold, characterful spirits proving an apt companion to bold, characterful conversation. A selection of Irish whiskies was passed around too, giving the evening an easy rhythm of sipping and talking that Belfast does so well. For anyone curious about how Irish whiskey is made, marketed and championed, this session offered a genuinely illuminating entry point — and if you'd like to explore more of the distilleries represented, our Belfast Whiskey Week Whiskey Map is a good place to start.

What The Angels' Share understood instinctively is that whiskey has always been a social liquid. The evening worked because it didn't talk at its audience — it talked with them. Women who came curious left informed; those already working in the industry left feeling seen. That's no small thing. For context on how different corners of the Irish whiskey world were celebrated across the week, it's worth looking at some of the more brand-focused sessions running alongside this one — including the deep-dive Bushmills History MasterClass and the always-popular Bushmills Causeway Collection MasterClass, which together showed just how broad the festival's ambitions were in 2024.

At £35, this was one of Belfast Whiskey Week's most accessible sessions in terms of price, but its value ran considerably deeper than that. Sláinte to The Angels' Share for getting it so right, first time out. We hope they're back.