Since the first dram
The story of Belfast Whiskey Week
How a few tastings in the Cathedral Quarter became Ireland's biggest whiskey week — year by year, dram by dram. Every year links into the full event archive, so you can see exactly what was poured.
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2019
The first dram [VERIFY YEAR + FACTS]
[DRAFT — replace with the real founding story] Belfast Whiskey Week begins as a handful of tastings in Cathedral Quarter bars — a bet that Belfast's whiskey history deserved a week of its own. The bet pays off: rooms fill, bottles empty, and a festival is born.
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2021
Back after the quiet years [VERIFY]
[DRAFT] After the pandemic pause, the festival returns — smaller rooms, bigger appetite. The first walking tours join the programme and sell out within days.
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2023
The festival finds its strands [VERIFY]
[DRAFT] Cocktail City, BIA Fest and Distillery Days give the week its shape — whiskey in cocktails, whiskey with food, whiskey at the source. The EXPO becomes Ireland's largest whiskey show.
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2024
Biggest week yet [VERIFY]
[DRAFT] More venues, more distilleries, more first-timers than ever. The Challengers of the Quaich sports day enters festival legend.
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2025
Twenty venues, one city [VERIFY]
[DRAFT] The festival triangle — City Hall to Cathedral Quarter to Sailortown — fills for nine days straight. The 5K Pub Run proves whiskey people can, technically, run.
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2026
This year — 24 Jul to 1 Aug
Nine days, 60+ events, 20+ venues, and the EXPO at the Europa Hotel on the final Saturday. The next chapter gets written by whoever's holding a glass.