Belfast Whiskey Week is one of those events that always seems to throw up something a little bit different. Distillery tours, tastings and masterclasses are all well and good, but when I spotted a collaboration dinner between Roam and Echlinville Distillery, it immediately caught my attention.
Belfast is somewhere that has become a real foodie paradise, with great restaurants opening up all the time – or so it feels. So, I enjoy finding new places to eat whenever I’m back visiting. Add whiskey pairings into the mix and I was sold.
The dinner took place at Roam, a restaurant tucked away in Belfast city centre which has built a reputation for showcasing local produce and seasonal ingredients. For this special Belfast Whiskey Week event, they had partnered with Echlinville Distillery, producers of Dunville’s Irish Whiskey and Bán PoitÃn, to create a multi-course menu with carefully matched drinks.
As someone who enjoys both good food and a dram, I was curious to see how the pairings would work. Whiskey dinners can sometimes feel a little forced, with the drink overshadowing the food, but that certainly wasn’t the case here.
Starting with a Belfast Coffee
We started with a selection of snacks: a cheese tartlet, raw beef with smoked almond, and IPA bread with Marmite butter. A pretty good way to start, and the sort of little bites that immediately make you think you’re going to be well fed!
Alongside these was a Belfast Coffee made with Bán PoitÃn, Garrick cold brew, cream, nutmeg and demerara sugar. Think Irish coffee’s slightly cooler, more modern cousin. Rich, creamy and comforting, it was a great way to kick things off and went particularly well with the savoury snacks.
Sea Trout & a Peated Boulevardier
Next up was sea trout with onion dashi. The dish was relatively simple, but the combination of the delicate fish and savoury dashi worked really well.
This was paired with a Peated Boulevardier made using Dunville’s Three Crowns Peated, sweet vermouth, Campari and dill. I’m usually happy whenever a Boulevardier appears on a menu, but the addition of the peated whiskey gave it an extra layer of flavour. Smoky, slightly bitter and with a lovely herbal note from the dill, it was a surprisingly good match for the sea trout.
Beef, Girolles & Dunville’s 12 Year Old PX
For the main course we had fillet of beef with girolles. The beef was beautifully cooked and the earthy mushrooms worked perfectly with it.
The accompanying dram was Dunville’s 12 Year Old PX. Matured in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, it brought plenty of dried fruit and sweetness, which stood up nicely to the richness of the beef.
This was probably my favourite pairing of the evening – although by this point I’d had a few drinks, so my judgement may have been slightly compromised!
Two Desserts & a Couple of Cocktails
Then it was time for dessert, and we actually had two courses.
First up was strawberries and champagne, paired with an Old Comber whiskey and coconut water cocktail. Light, fresh and not overly sweet, it was a lovely change of pace after the beef and worked almost like a palate cleanser.
The second dessert was peach and white chocolate, served with a cocktail made with Bán PoitÃn, cream soda and peach bitters. Sweet, creamy and full of peachy flavour, it was a lovely way to finish the meal.
The Pairings
One of the things I enjoyed most about the dinner was that the whiskey and cocktails didn’t feel like an afterthought. Each pairing had clearly been considered alongside the food, and there were some combinations that I wouldn’t necessarily have put together myself but which worked surprisingly well.
A Taste of Belfast’s Food & Drink Scene
It’s also always nice to see the food and drink scene in Northern Ireland continuing to grow. Belfast has changed so much over the years, and these kinds of events are a great way to showcase what local chefs, restaurants and drinks producers are doing.
If you’re heading to Belfast Whiskey Week next year, it’s worth keeping an eye out for the food events as well as the tastings and masterclasses. For us, the Roam x Echlinville dinner was a great evening of good food, good drinks and a few things I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise – which, let’s be honest, is exactly what I want from a night out!