Whiskey Chats

Join me for My Chat with James Doherty, owner and founder of Sliabh Liag Distillery, along with his wife Moira. They immigrated back to Donegal, where James spent so much of his youth visiting family. James and Moira founded a distillery, where they have been releasing An Dúlamán Irish Maritime Gin and also the Silkie range of whiskeys, using sourced Great Northern Distillery liquid to great fanfa...

Join me for My Garden Chat with Aidan McGovern, Dan Pennington & JP O'Riordan as we laugh our way through tasting Celtic Cask 30 - 35, aswell as a few gems also. They called up to my outdoor studio I set up in my back garden on a glorious June weekend and we shared a few beers, cigars, whiskeys and chat. But this only part 1. Part 2 to follow! I want to thank Julie Christie and Celtic Whiskey for...

Join me for My Chat with Paul Kane, founder of Belfast Whiskey Week. This year the festival runs from 23 July - 31 July 2021, with over 80 individual tasting packs available. The past two years have marked BWW as a must-do on the whiskey calendar and Paul & I took a deep dive into what to expect from the festival, from who are doing tastings this year to the festivals 4 exclusive bottlings. Check...

Join me for My Chat with Bridger Kelleher, Head Brewer at Western Herd Brewery in Co. Clare. Western Herd have emerged as one of the leading Irish craft breweries, that more and more whiskey fans have exploring, as a accompaniment to their wee drop of an evening. Bridger is a brewing hobbyist who stumbled into his local brewery, after moving from the US to Clare, and managed to convince the owners...

Join me for My Chat with Graham Coull, Head Distiller in Dingle Distillery. He is a recent resident of Dingle in Co. Kerry, having come to the distillery from Glen Moray Distillery in Speyside, Scotland. He also spent time with Glenfiddich and The Balvenie. He is creating new directions for Dingle Distillery and we had a great chat about all the new and exciting ventures. Subscribe to my Patreon f...

Join me for My Chat about the Marrowbone Lane bottling that the Irish Whiskey Society released in 2016. In a nod to the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, where the William Jameson distillery in Marrowbone Lane in The Liberties area of Dublin was used as a stronghold by the Irish Republicans. This landmark release of this 11yr old Single Pot Still Irish whiskey, in the heavier, oilier trad pot s...

Join me for My Chat with Derek Cronin, apprentice cooper to Ger Buckley, Head Cooper in Midleton Distillery. Derek is a qualified carpenter, a chippie, and he started his coopering apprenticeship in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic. I visited himself and Ger to see how it's all going so far. I wasn't disappointed. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Pa...

Join me for My Chat about all things Dunville's Whiskey, where 5 of my buddies and I sat down on a Zoom and shared 4 fabulous Dunville's expressions from our bottle-share group. Dylan Coakley, JP O'Riordan, Aidan McGovern, Matt Kelliher and John Coomey and myself had a great laugh sharing a drop.....and we even had a surprise guest gate-crash! Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr ear...

Join me for My Chat with Michael Cowman, The Paddy Prince and business development manager with Hi-Spirits in Ireland. But more importantly, Mick has now become a Global Whisky Icon 2021 as American Whiskey Ambassador of the year. He's always game for a laugh and I really enjoyed hanging out and having a chat. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Patreon: https...

Join me for My Chat with Michael O'Boyle, who owns Baoilleach Distillery in Donegal. He sells Mulroy Bay poitín and gin, distilled at his home distillery in the wilds of Co. Donegal. He is a passionate distiller who has learned the art, not from books, but from experience. He is living the distilling dream and I had a great chat with him. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early ac...

Join me for My Chat with Dan Humphries from The Summerton Whisky Club. Summerton is a bi-monthly whisky subscription service started by Dan, who also has branched out into running whisky festivals. He is the epitome of a whisky advocate and hugely enthusiastic whisky fan. Check out his website. https://www.summertonclub.com/ Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes....

Join me for My Chat with Ger Garland, whiskey ambassador for Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard. Ger is one of the custodians of Irish Whiskey tales and he has regaled the Irish whiskey community for many years at many a Redbreast, Powers, Midleton or Spot tasting around Ireland. He is one of the gentleman of Irish whiskey and I really enjoyed our chat. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24...

Join me for My Chat, opening Cúige Poitín, with Brendan Carty from Killowen. This was a project by Brendan, to 'rest' a peated poitín in 5 different beer barrels for 10 weeks. There were 190 sets of this wonderful set and I was privileged to open my with the Master Distiller himself.   "This unique wood seasoning experiment combines historic mashbill poitín with five distinctive beers from Ireland...

Join me for My Chat with Ralfy Mitchell, who is the gold standard in whiskey reviews and blogs. He has entertained whiskey folk from his bothy on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea for 10 years. We hooked up on Zoom and settled in for a nerdy chat, Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast https://www.youtube.com/c/...

Join me for My Chat with Marty McAuley from Irish Whiskey Review & Ulster Whiskey. Marty and I nerded out on whiskey, discussing new and old whiskey & distilleries, poitins and a whole lot more. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast https://ulsterwhiskey.com/ https://visitbelfast.com/partners/ulster-whiskey/ D...

Join me for My Chat with Chris Hennessy, manager of the Dylan Whiskey Bar in Kilkenny, one of the brains behind Aqua Vitae and all round whiskey oracle. Chris's knowledge of Irish whiskey and it's history is captivating. I always enjoy learning from Chris's rambling rants and I hope you do too. My drops of the night: Belfast Coffee 1960's 10yr old Green Spot Aqua Vitae Subscribe to my Patreon for...

Join me for My Chat with the Irish Whiskey Guild's Louise McGuane & Daithi O'Connell. Louise is owner and founder of JJ Corry Irish Whiskey Bonders and Daithi is owner and founder of WD O'Connell Whiskey Merchants. They, along with Peter Mulryan of Blackwater Distillery & Brendan Carty of Killowen Distillery, have come together to form a lobby and advocacy group, The Irish Whiskey Guild. I had to...

Join me for My Chat with Mark Reynier from Waterford Whisky & Renegade Rum. He is one of the stars of the whiskey world, from resurrecting & innovating with Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay to bringing 'Teireoir' to Irish Whiskey with Waterford Whisky. Now he's bringing terroir to Carribean rum with his new venture in Grenada with Renegade Rum. He's living the dream....but he started his apprenti...

Join me for  My Chat with Dave Marra  who brought #CaskStrengthCrusade to the Irish whiskey masses during Lockdown 2020. He is a home brewer and self admitted wine geek, so we had plenty to waffle on about. I had alot of fun geeking out with Dave. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast #CaskStrengthCrusade http...

Join me for My Chat with Dave Stapleton, Co-Founder of  Connacht Whiskey Co. & outgoing Chairman of the Irish Whiskey Association. Dave is in the middle of handing over the baton to Vice-Chair John Quinn. I asked him onto the podcast to get his perspective on the current position of Irish Whiskey. I also wanted to find out more about what Connacht Whiskey have in store for 2021.  Subscribe to my P...

Join me for My Chat with Bill Linnane, Ireland's Whiskey Journalist and blogger. Bill's dark humour and self depreciatingly honest style of writing always leaves me giggling and wanting more. His carefully researched articles on whiskey are always fascinating and I've wanted to sit for a chat for a while now.  So when Bill, not Billy, invited me down to his Midleton pad, I jumped at the chance. Su...

Join me for My Chat with Conor Ryan from Pearse Lyons Distillery & The Folk House Bar in Kinsale. We settled in for a chat on Zoom, on a wet & windy November evening, with Storm Aidan 'raging' outside. Conor's depth of knowledge and enthusiasm always makes for great conversation and our chat was no different.  Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Patreon: https...

Join me for My Chat with Dave O'Connell, owner of #SundayNightSup on Twitter & Powers Whiskey collector extraordinaire. There's not much gets past Dave when he's speaking with passion about Powers Whiskey & we had a great chat about the brand, and alot more besides. Subscribe to my Patreon for extra content and 24hr early access episodes. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whiskeychatspodcast My dro...

Join me for My Chat with Mark Lonergan from The Shelbourne Bar in Cork, one of Ireland's iconic whiskey bars. I called in for a socially-distanced chat during Ireland's lvl 5 Covid lockdown, to find out how Mark & the owner of The Shelbourne, Philip Gillivan, are diversifying the business during this period of closure.  Mark and I, being kindred whiskey nerd spirits, inevitably had a great ramblin...

Join me for My Chat with my Bottleshare Group - JP O'Riordan, Alan Corcoran, Aidan McGovern, Dylan Coakley, John Coomey & Matt Kelleher.  I believe everyone should be in a bottle-share group, it's a great way to share a bottle of whiskey with friends, maybe even stretching to an expensive bottle, taking the opportunity to share the cost & experience. Have a listen in on how we have done it and hop...