Join us in jail, or is it gaol, as in the Crumlin Road Gaol, the last Victorian era prison relic in Northern Ireland, now being put to better use as the home of the Belfast Distillery Company, working to revive the classic old McConnell’s Whisky brand and creating a major new hospitality and tourist attraction in the process.

We stop for “just the one” in this all-too brief episode, where CEO John Kelly lays out the twin goals for the distillery: “Restore the legend of McConnell’s Irish Whisky that was and will be again, and bring distilling back to Belfast.”

The 22-year veteran of Guinness and Diageo knows the spirits industry…and the neighborhood, having gone to school just over the prison wall, back in the bad old days of the Crumlin Road Gaol.

John shares insights on why Irish whiskey lost favor, how it is now roaring back, and the immersive experiences drawing visitors to this dramatic new distillery.
And BTW—it isn’t a typo—McConnel’s spells it “whisky” without the “e”.

Links:

McConnell's Whisky

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter (X)
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

John Kelly

• LinkedIn

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 18; Total Episode Count: 121

When you’re in a UNESCO City of Music, you expect to hear some great sounds, which we did when we found our way to the Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts to hear the Belfast singer, songwriter, performer, and musical explorer Suzanne Savage.

Hooked at age seven by an Ulster Orchestra concert, she picked up a violin at age eight. Within a few years, she was practicing classical music by day and gigging with Belfast bands by night.

Suzanne talks about her deep connections with Belfast and its music scene, her varied musical influences, and how she balances her artistic endeavors with practical considerations. Suzanne tells of her jazz influences, international experiences, noteworthy performances, and the important community initiatives she supports in Belfast.

In the Duncairn concert, she was backed by her Savage Five string ensemble for an evening of her contemporary art songs, a reminder that there’s more than Trad to be had in the first UNESCO City of Music on the island of Ireland.
Join us for a journey through the marvelous musical landscape of the stellar Suzanne Savage!

And thanks to the Belfast Music Society for their warm welcome.

Links

Suzanne Savage

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X
• Bandcamp
• YouTube
• Performance: Singing Leonard Cohen with RTÉ Concert Orchestra

Savage Five

• Website
• Facebook

Seamus Plug - The People's Kitchen, Belfast

• Facebook
• Album: Kindness on the Streets

The Duncairn Centre for Arts & Culture

• Website
• Facebook

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 17; Total Episode Count: 120

This episode of the Irish Stew Podcast features a discussion with documentary filmmaker Alan Gilsenan and journalist John Walsh about their film 'The Irish Question.'

The film delves into the recent history of Ireland, the partition between North and South, and contemplates the concept of a United Ireland in the post-Brexit era. The conversation highlights the impact of Brexit, economic and cultural complexities, and the fragile peace established by the Good Friday Agreement.

The episode also touches on the importance of Truth and Reconciliation as a foundational step towards any potential unification. Recorded at the Capital Irish Film Festival in association with Solas Nua, this discussion pays homage to diverse Irish identities and urges a deeper conversation on Ireland's future.

Links

The Irish Question (Trailer)

Alan Gilsenan - Director

• Website: Yellow Asylum
• Wikipedia
• Twitter / X

John Walsh - Writer

• LinkedIn
• BlueSky

Solas Nua

• Website

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 16; Total Episode Count: 119

Former champion boxer John Duddy from Derry and one-time construction worker Newry’s own Ciaran Byrne share their unlikely paths to acting on stage and in film in part two of our first live podcast recording for Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival.

The two friends delve into how their life experiences inform their performances, personal traumas from The Troubles, and the critical role of theater in post-conflict healing and education. Sharing compelling narratives throughout, Ciaran and John underscore the significance of their Northern Irish roots and the transformative power of storytelling, but don’t stint on the Irish craic.

Massive thanks to Origin’s Theatre’s artistic director Mick Mellamphy (who we featured in this 2023 episode) for envisioning our live podcast event and curating our stellar guest list, to the Northern Ireland Bureau for their generous support, to Bill Schultz for recording and editing the episodes, and to Jimmy and the crew at Ryan’s Daughter for their above-and-beyond hospitality.

Links

Ciaran Byrne

• Website
• IMDb
• X
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

John Duddy

• IMDb
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Origin Theatre

• Website

The Northern Ireland Bureau

• Website

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 15; Total Episode Count: 118

After Origin Theatre’s artistic director Mick Mellamphy welcomes our paying (!) audience to the 1st Irish Festival’s first live podcast event, we introduce theatre makers, Derry’s own Labhaoise Magee of Fair Play Productions and Big Telly Theatre’s Crissy O' Donovan who was raised in Dublin, worked in GB, and is now based in Northern Ireland.

Fair Play brought Sinéad O'Brien's "storytelling masterclass" No One is Coming to Origin 1st Irish this year, while Big Telly staged the immersive Granny Jackson’s Dead.

Labhaoise and Crissy talk about their theatrical journeys, how storytelling can process collective memory, how theater can promote democratic culture in post-conflict Northern Ireland, and the transformative power of dramatic arts in fostering connections and understanding.

Join us Upstairs at Ryan’s Daughter for our first live podcast recording, made possible by the support of the Northern Ireland Bureau.

Links
Labhaoise Magee

• IMDb

Fair Play Productions

• Website
• Instagram
• X

Crissy O' Donovan

• LinkedIn

Big Telly Theatre

• Website
• YouTube
• X

Origin Theatre

• Website

The Northern Ireland Bureau

• Website

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 14; Total Episode Count: 117

We found the right guides for Belfast’s burgeoning food and festivities scene in Michael Stewart and Caroline Wilson.

Caroline is a lawyer-turned-serial-entrepreneur of food and drink experiences. She founded Belfast Food Tour, co-founded Taste and Tour, Ahoy Belfast, Fooday and Belfast Gin Fest and she’s on the Board of Visit Belfast and The Strand.

A well-known man about Belfast, Michael Stewart, spent close to 40 years in hospitality--and was he ever hospitable to us, helping us arrange for the lion’s share of our #LostinBelfast interviews.

A past president of the Belfast Chamber, Michael now reigns as Belfast’s Night Czar, tasked with promoting the nighttime economy of the City Center, Linen, Cathedral, and Belfast One Business Improvement Districts.

We met the mad duo at The Common Market, an indoor international street food festival, open to all--including dogs--in a cavernous old fruit market in the Cathedral Quarter, with our mics picking up all the background craic in this on-location recording session.

There’s a seat for you at the table, so join us!

Links
Michael Stewart

• Bar Czar
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Caroline Wilson

• Taste and Tour
• X
  • Taste and Tour
  • Ahoy Befast
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 13; Total Episode Count: 116

Join us as we get “Lost Outside of Belfast” when we take a 25-minute cab ride from the city center to Hinch Distillery in bucolic County Down. With Head Distiller Will Stafford as our guide, we explore the sensory journey of whiskey making from the meticulous process of mashing, fermentation, and distillation to savoring the heady aromas of the “angels’ share” seeping from the aged wooden barrels shacked ceiling-high in the cavernous Hinch whiskey warehouse.

Next, Claire McLernon guides us through a tasting of Hinch's range of whiskeys and its Ninth Wave gin, highlighting the different flavor profiles achieved through the distiller’s alchemy and artistry.

Founder Dr. Terry Cross then joins in to share what it takes to succeed in the increasingly competitive whiskey business and talks up the business opportunities he finds at the Belfast International Homecoming, a yearly marquee business event that your co-hosts attended the previous evening, which we’ll explore in a future Irish Stew episode.

Pull up a stool and join us for a happy hour at Hinch.

Hinch Links

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
  • Hinch
  • Dr. Terry Cross
  • Will Stafford
• X

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 12; Total Episode Count: 115

We commemorate the 100th Anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby this week with Patrick O'Sullivan Greene, author of Gatsby: Death of an Irishman.

Patrick guides us through F. Scott Fitzgerald's troubled Midwest upbringing, his quest for status, his ambivalence towards his Irish heritage, the sociopolitical climate of early 20th-century America, and the careless Jazz Age excess portrayed in Gatsby.

Patrick peels back the intricate layers of Fitzgerald's character, revealing the underlying themes of identity and self-rejection in his work, his shifting views of Irish issues, and how his personal battles influenced his writing and contributed to his tragic life.

The episode also touches on Patrick’s own Irish heritage and his journey from business and finance to writing.

We end the conversation as The Great Gatsby ends, with the novel’s closing line, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Links:

Patrick O'Sullivan Greene

• Website
• LinkedIn
• BlueSky
• X
• Instagram

Gatsby: Death of an Irishman

• Amazon
• TheBookshop.ie

Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 11; Total Episode Count: 114