I’d been to Ireland numerous times over the past 20 years; however, I’d never been to Northern Ireland, nor to the northwest coast of County Donegal. On my various journeys, I’d visited family and friends, and, of course, distilleries. In July of 2023, I traveled with my partner, Maggie, along the Wild Atlantic Way, hiking, eating, and drinking our way from Dublin to Newgrange, Powerscourt, Waterford, Cork, Dingle, Doolin, Inishmore, Galway, the Slieve League Cliffs, Bushmills and the Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, the Dark Hedges, Belfast, and finally back to Dublin. During our 11-day journey, we hiked in good (wet and windy) and bad (wetter and windier) weather, ate incredibly well, and toured 7 whiskey distilleries, including 3 that I’d never visited before. Our route map:

Day 1 – Dublin

We started our journey in Dublin, where we saw Allie Sherlock busking on Grafton Street, walked around Dublin Castle, toured the Guinness Storehouse, had a delicious and filling Irish dinner at The Old Mill, and capped off the evening at Palace Bar.

Day 2 – Dublin & Newgrange

We spent the morning at Knowth and Newgrange, 5000-year-old burial sites, followed by lunch in Drogheda, where we stumbled across a cool medieval gate. Then we toured Teeling Whiskey Distillery, followed by more whiskey at Bowe’s Bar.

Day 3 – Powerscourt & Waterford

We began the day at Powerscourt Distillery with a very special private tour hosted by Gerry Ginty (Co-Founder, Director and COO; and cousin of my friend Fiona Ginty). Thank you Gerry and your team for the tremendous tour, wonderful whiskey and perfect pairing of fantastic food! Afterwards, we visited Powerscourt Waterfall and then drove to Waterford, where we ate dinner, drank whiskey at Revolution Bar, and experienced Viking lore.

Day 4 – Waterford & Cork

We had intended to visit Waterford Whisky in the morning. However, there was an unexpected power outage, and we weren’t able to tour the facility. But, that didn’t stop us from having a full day of delightful experiences. In the morning, we were blown away by the skilled artisans at Waterford Crystal. We then drove to Midleton and Cork, where, after getting lost walking from the train station to the distillery, we had a great tour at the Midleton Distillery, followed by a phenomenal vegetarian dinner at Paradiso, and capped off the evening with whiskey at the Shelbourne Bar.

Along the road from Waterford to Cork, we passed the Kindred Spirits memorial, a large stainless-steel outdoor sculpture to commemorate the 1847 donation by the Native American Choctaw Nation to Irish famine relief. The sculpture was built in 2015 and consists of nine 20-foot stainless steel eagle feathers arranged in a circle, no two feathers being identical, forming a bowl shape to represent a gift of a bowl of food.

Day 5 – Dingle

We drove from Cork to Dingle, one of my favorite places on Earth, and saw our dear friend Maria (and her pup Heidi), and then toured Dingle Crystal and Dingle Distillery, where we hung out with Dingle Master Distiller Graham Coull and his wife Fay. While there we tasted Dingle Bealtine Single Pot Still Whiskey- 4 years in ex-bourbon + 3 years in Australian ex-Shiraz. For dinner, we went to one of my favorite seafood restaurants on the planet – Out of The Blue. And, at our B&B, we made friends with a sheep from Dingle, who apparently pairs well with the Blue Spot & Red Spot whiskeys that I bought in Cork at the Midleton Distillery.

Day 6 – Doolin

We started the day in Dingle and drove north to Doolin. We saw a dolphin while on the ferry from Talbert to Killimer, but unfortunately I couldn’t capture it on video. Then, google maps led us down several narrow roads that were barely as wide as our car. Luckily, only once did we have an issue where we met another car, and one of us had to back up. After checking in to our hotel, we went down into Doolin Cave and saw the largest stalactite in Europe; and then we had a lovely and very wet hike on the Cliffs of Moher, followed by delicious food and great Irish music at McDermott’s Pub in Doolin.

Day 7 – Inishmore Island and Galway

In the morning, we took the ferry from Doolin to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. We hiked for several hours in the rain, bought some wool garments, and then ferried back in time for a delicious Spanish tapas dinner at Cava Bodega in Galway. I’d never had salmon paella before; but this Irish fusion worked; and it was perfectly prepared.

Day 8 – Ahascragh Distillery & Slieve League Cliffs

Ahascragh Distillery was founded in 2018 by Gareth and Michelle McAllister in the 200-year-old Ahascragh Mills. When we visited, their spirit was sourced; but they became fully operational with their own stills within a few weeks of our visit, using locally sourced barley that they distill and mature. They are Ireland’s first zero emissions “eco-distillery,” utilizing heat pumps, hydroelectric and solar power. Their head distiller, Cait Baxter joined them in December 2022, after four years at Dingle.

The Slieve League Cliffs are on the northwest coast of County Donegal with breathtaking 2000-foot cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. After hiking on the cliffs, we spent the night at The Rusty Mackerel, a pub and B&B in Teelin, near the Slieve League Cliffs. Their dinner specialty is, naturally, a rusty mackerel – mackerel prepared with paprika and garlic.

Day 9 – Ardara & Bushmills

We started the day with a wonderful breakfast at the Rusty Mackerel – fluffy scrambled eggs with freshly caught poached haddock. I also had a bowl of porridge with Silkie whiskey (it had a lovely finish). We then toured Ardara Distillery / Sliabh Liag (Slieve League) Distillers. Their currently-available whiskey (Silkie) is sourced from Great Northern. However, they have been distilling their own spirit using peated malt, which is very rare in Ireland; and I look forward to their first release, which is expected in 2025.

Bushmills Distillery, founded in 1608, is the oldest whiskey distillery in the world. It is huge and has an impressive tour with a 7-dram (full pours each!) tasting. Suffice it to say, all were happy at the end. Their whiskey is good; but it’s only 40% ABV. I just wish they had some cask strength to taste and to purchase.

After the Bushmills Distillery tour, we stumbled (literally) into a wonderful restaurant for dinner – Bushmills Inn. My dinner consisted of an appetizer of chicken liver mousse with white raisin chutney, a main dish of lamb loin with Mediterranean vegetables, and a dessert of white chocolate rhubarb custard delice w rhubarb gin sorbet.

Day 10 – Outdoor Adventures in Northern Ireland

We began the day at The Dark Hedges, a beautiful avenue of beech trees planted by the Stuart family in the eighteenth century. The iconic beech trees have been used as a filming location in HBO’s series Game of Thrones®, representing the Kingsroad.

We then headed over to The Giants Causeway. It is Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site. The spectacular columns look like an architectural marvel, but the formation is entirely natural. It developed over 50 million years ago when of lava oozed from fissures in the earth. The molten rock cooled and contracted, cracking into a series of 40,000 columns, mostly in near-perfect hexagonal shapes.

Connected to tall cliffs by a rope bridge across the Atlantic Ocean, Carrick-a-Rede (home to a single building – a fisherman’s cottage) was our next stop. Suspended almost 100 ft above the sea, the rope bridge was first erected by salmon fishermen over 250 years ago. From there, we could see the locations of some of my favorite Scotch whiskies- Islay 22 miles to the north and the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula 12 miles to the east.

Day 11 – The Final Day

We ate lunch at PJ O’Hare’s in Carlingford (Asian raw oysters, Parmesan grilled oysters, and seafood chowder…yum!); and then I headed off to the airport for my next journey- Coastal Scotland, while Maggie went to Dublin for a conference.

Cheers! / Slainte! / Kanpai!