Whiskey Chats

Join me for My Stonewell Cider & Brandy Chat with Diarmuid Madden. Diarmuid is a Production Operator at Stonewell Cidery in Carrigaline, Cork. They produce an amzing array of quality ciders. Orr Apple Brandy is their new venture, their own cider distilled by a local distillery and Diarmuid has been spearheading this project since the start of 2025. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: www....

Join me for My Garden Chat with Dean & Cathal pt 1. Dean Fitzgerald runs the Whiskey Appreciation Society pages on Social Media platforms. He does a great job bringing people along hi journey with him and helping to promote Irish brands. I urge you to check out his profiles and give him a follow. Cathal O'Brien has been repping West Cork Distillers for a decade now. Cathal originally hails from Ga...

Join me for My Midleton Micro Distillery Chat with Barrett Stapleton - Head Distiller in the Micro. Barrett originally hails from the US and has beat a really interesting path to his current position in Midleton Distillery. He came back to Ireland at the end of Covid, after studying in UCC in the early 00's, to start work distilling in Clonakilty Distillery.  From Electrician to Scuba Instructor,...

Join me for My Stonewell Cidery Chat with Daniel Emerson. Founded by Daniel and Geraldine Emerson in 2009, Stonewell is a small family-run cider producer. Their story began with an old French press and apple mill from Geraldine's Loire Valley family before upgrading to a modern press at their Carrigaline Production facility. I joined Daniel in Carrigaline and we walked amongst their fermenters and...

Join me for My Spot Whiskey Chat with Robert Mitchell. Robert Mitchell is the 7th generation of his family to run Mitchell & Son Wine and Spirits Merchants in Dublin city centre. Mitchell's have left a huge legacy in their wake on Irish whiskey, as at one point in the late 20th century, the only shop in the world to sell Pot Still Irish whiskey was Mitchell's, as they were the only retailers for t...

Join me for My Mourne Dew Distillery Chat with Donal Farrell. Mourne Dew was founded in 2017 by Donal Farrell, a former barrister and chartered accountant. His inspiration came from an unexpected place—a court case involving cold distillation for forensic DNA extraction. This sparked an idea: what if the same technology could be used to create ultra-pure, high-quality spirits? He is doing extremel...

Join me for My Hinch Distillery Chat with Emma Millar. Emma Millar is a senior distiller since 2020, at the beautiful Hinch Distillery in Co. Down, founded by Dr Terry Cross in 2019. It is clearly a labour of love. The detail and scale of Hinch Distillery really impressed me as Emma showed me around. But all the shiny things don't really matter, unless the spirit they produce is good...... and it...

Join me for My Ardara Distillery Chat with James Doherty. James and Moira O'Doherty founded Sliabh Liag Distillers and began releasing their Silkie range of sourced smoky whiskeys, just as the covid lockdown hit, as well as An Dúlamán Irish Maritime gins. James and Moira returned to Ireland from their last pit-stop in Hong Kong, to pick up James's family legacy of distilling 'Inishowen' style or s...

Join me for My Chat with Tara Clarke from Dair Nua Cooperage. Tara is the National Sales Manager at the cooperage. She is the conduit between the barrels they source, import, fix, care for and distribute to most of our favourite distilleries and brands throughout the island of Ireland. It is a very important and interesting role in the whiskey industry. Before working at Dair Nua Cooperage, she wo...

Join me for My Master Cooper Chat with Darren Leonard. Darren is a Master Cooper, not Head Cooper, above in Dair Nua Cooperage in Foxford, Co Mayo. He is a Master Cooper because he has successfully qualified an apprentice underneath him. He is passionate about the craft of coopering and retaining the Irish traditions of coopering that Ger Buckley, Midleton Master Cooper, has "legacied" into the sm...

Join me for My Palace Bar Chat with Stephen Randles, Michael Cowman & Micháel O'Flaherty. We met up in The Palace Bar on Fleet St in Dublin city centre. Owner and publican Willie Ahern kindly allowed us to use the private Power's whiskey room, on the top floor, to record the podcast. He even dropped in at the start of the chat to say hello and find out what we thought of the new Clockwork Velvet S...

Join me for My Boann Distillery Chat with Pat Cooney. Pat Cooney is the Patriarch of Boann Distillery, having founded it in 2019, alongside his family. Pat has been in the drinks industry in Ireland since the 1970's. We discuss on the episode his previous companies and his path to Boann, very interesting. Boann Distillery have been innovating and ambitious in the Irish Pot Still whiskey since Pat...

Join me for My Achill Island Distillery Chat with Seán & Michael McKay. I recently visited this picturesque island distillery in beautiful county Mayo, just off the west coast of Ireland, by bridge. Seán and Michael McKay are brothers. They are carrying on the legacy of their father who founded the distillery originally and they are genuinely doing their father's legacy a massive justice. They hav...

Join me for My Lough Mask Distillery Chat with Andrew Bourke-Hastings, Head Distiller. I recently visited this picturesque, yet industrial, distillery in beautiful county Mayo, surrounded on all sides by gorgeous lakes and mountains. Andrew started in Lough Mask as a brewer and is now their Head Distiller. They are nearing the point in their journey where they will be releasing their very own whis...

Join me for My Micil Distillery Chat with Pádraic Ó'Griallais. I visited Micil Distillery, based out the back of the Oslo Bar, in the heart of Salthill just outside Galway city, in January 2024. This is a really charming, boutique distillery that I wanted to see for a long time. I wasn't disappointed. What couldn't come across on the podcast was the amazing smell of turf that hits you as you open...

Join me for My Midleton Distillery Garden Chat with Barry Chandler, Dan Pennington, Paul Costello and Mark Lonergan. I set up a marquee out my back garden over Xmas 2024. The lads called up, Dan was on BBQ duty, I made Belfast Coffees, we had a ball. I asked Midleton Master Blender Dave McCabe for a sample set from the Midleton blending lab. He very graciously sent me an amazing array of aged whis...

Join me for My Eimverk Distillery Chat with Eva Sigurbjornsdottir, in Reykjavik, Iceland. Eimverk produce Floki Whisky, which is famous for their sheep dung smoked whisky and many other amazing spirits. My wife Sonya and I recently visited Eva for a look around their innovative distillery, where we discovered just how much effort that they put into their production and raw materials. For a distill...

Join me for My Islay Garden Chat with Dan Pennington, Paulie Costello, Matt Kelleher & Aidan McGovern. On a recent pilgrimage to the magical whisky island of Islay, off the coast of Scotland, with a couple of good buddies, we sat out the back of our rent-a-house on Bowmare High St, for a very honest chat about the trip so far. I hope this gives anyone thinking about making the trip, an honest insi...

Join me for My Ardbeg Distillery Chat with Jackie Thomson, Visitor Centre Manager. On a recent pilgrimage to the magical whisky island of Islay, off the coast of Scotland, with a couple of good buddies - Dan, Paulie, Matt and Aidan, we visited Ardbeg Distillery. Here, I met up with Jackie Thomson, an absolute livewire of a lady and an enthusiatic whisky evangelist. She is a recent Whisky Magazine...

Join me for My Chat with Derek Mather in The Laddie Snug at Artisan. On a recent pilgrimage to the magical whisky island of Islay, off the coast of Scotland with a couple of good buddies, we made an overnight detour to the small town of Wishaw, midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, to the famous Artisan restaurant. Head chef, owner, curator and co-founder of the Friends of Bruichladdich FaceBook g...

Join me for My Belfast Chat in The Friend at Hand with Jim, Mark & Séamus. On this episode, I had 3 guests who joined me in a round-table chat in the spectacular tasting room in the back of The Friend at Hand whiskey shop and museum in the heart of Belfast city. . Jim Ingram who works in The FAH and has the YouTube Channel The Whiskey Novice. . Séamus Óg Birt, Brand Ambassador in Echlinville Disti...

Join me for My Chat with Willie Jack in The Friend at Hand in Belfast. Willie Jack is a legend in Belfast. He is a publican, whiskey museum curator, architectural salvager and restorer, antiques dealer, community builder, cultural ambassador and a seriously well connected and sound fella. I have wanted to speak to Willie for many years about the shrine to Irish Whiskey he has built at The Friend a...

Join me for My Live Festival Chat with Noel Sweeney - Master Distiller. Noel is famous for his amazing time as Master Distiller at Cooley Distillery, where he became responsible for releasing alot of the amazing Irish whiskeys that we all love today. His Cooley malts and single grains are still being released by different brands and bottlers to this day, to massive plaudits. Right now, one of Noel...

Join me for My Live Chat at Cork on a Fork Festival I was asked to do a number of Live podcasts at a recent foodie festival in Cork - Cork on a Fork. I set up a podcast studio in the top floor bar of Cork Opera House in August 2024, in front of a Live audience, where my guests and I shared some very interesting drinks and chats. My 3 guests were: Mark Lonergan - ex-manager of The Shelbourne Whiske...

Join me for My McConnell's Distillery Chat with Graham Millar, Head Distiller. Myself and Sonya visited McConnel's Distillery, in the old Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast, whilst up at Belfast Whiskey Week 2024. Graham showed us around their amazing converted and renovated centuries old prison wing, that is now their Distillery! The project was started over a decade ago by another party and the curren...