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Irish Whiskey Museum – tasting tours, tickets, prices, Blending Experience

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Irish Whiskey Museum is a tribute to the Irish love for Whiskey.

This Dublin Museum narrates 2000 years of Irish whiskey history and offers tastings of a wide variety of Irish whiskeys as part of their tours.

Since it is independent of all whiskey distilleries (it isn’t affiliated with any one brand), visitors get to taste 100+ different types of Irish whiskeys.

Even though it opened only in 2014, the Irish Whiskey Museum has quickly become an integral part of any Dublin visit.

This article covers everything you must know before booking your Irish Whiskey Museum tour.

What to expect from Irish Whiskey Museum

Explore the extensive whiskey bar, historic exhibits, and a tasting room, all housed within a historic building near Dublin’s city center.

The museum offers guided tours themed to represent different periods in Irish history, providing a comprehensive overview of the country’s whiskey heritage.

Participate in interactive whiskey tastings, where you can sample and compare various Irish whiskeys, gaining a deeper appreciation for the flavors and nuances of this iconic spirit.

See antique whisky items from the 1800s and discover the history of this beverage, including its inception, ascent to fame, and present renaissance.

Create your own 30ml small whisky bottle to take home and put your mixing prowess to the test!

Be led by an expert guide who will regale you with stories, anecdotes, and illuminating knowledge throughout the tour.

Tours Ticket Price
Irish Whiskey Museum: Guided Tour €23
Tickets for Whiskey Blending Experience €32

Where to book tickets

Tickets for Irish Whisky Museum are available online and at the attraction.

Online ticket prices tend to be cheaper than tickets at the attraction.

When you buy online, you can avoid the long queues at the ticket counters. 

Because the Irish Whiskey Museum sells limited tickets, they may sell out during peak days.

Booking early helps avoid last-minute disappointments.

How do online tickets work

Visit the ticket booking page for the Irish Whiskey Museum, select the preferred date, time slot, and number of tickets, and buy the tickets immediately.

Once you purchase tickets, they get delivered to your email address.

There is no need to get printouts of the ticket. 

Show the e-ticket on your smartphone at the entrance and walk in.

Please carry a valid ID with you.

Irish Whiskey Museum tickets

For the Irish Whiskey Museum, the cost of a general ticket for all ages between 13 and 64 is €23.

Children aged between five and 12 can get their tickets for €10.

Students above 18 with ID and Seniors above 64 years of age can gain entrance at €21.

Kids under five accompanied by adults are not charged anything.

A family tour ticket combo with two adults and two children costs €62.

For the Whiskey Blending Experience, the cost of a general ticket for ages above 18 is €35.

Visitors under 18 are not allowed.

Irish Whiskey Museum tickets

Irish Whiskey Museum offers four types of tours.

  • Whiskey Museum’s Classic Tour
  • Whiskey Museum’s Premium Tour
  • The Blending Experience 
  • Museum Brunch (on weekends only)

In this section, we explain all the tours and also provide their prices. 

Irish Whiskey Museum Tickets

Irish Whiskey Museum offers four types of tours.

  • Whiskey Museum’s Classic Tour
  • Whiskey Museum’s Premium Tour
  • The Blending Experience 
  • Museum Brunch (on weekends only)

In this section, we explain all the tours and also provide their prices:

Irish Whiskey Museum: Guided Tour

Classic Tour

Whiskey Museum’s Classic Tour is a 1-hour guided tour where whiskey experts at the Museum take you through the history of Irish Whiskey with the help of stories and visual aids.

Visitors learn how the popularity of Irish Whiskey has kept dwindling over time and is on the rise again today. 

As you explore all the rooms, you get to see whiskey memorabilia dating back to the 19th century.

Tastings at Irish Whiskey Museum

At the last leg of the tour, you get to enjoy three perfectly crafted Irish whiskey tastings. 

Premium Tour

When you book Whiskey Museum’s Premium Tour, you get everything that the Classic Tour gets you, plus one more beautifully aged Irish Whiskey thrown in during the tasting session. 

So, in effect, on a Premium Tour, one gets to taste four world-class Irish whiskeys. 

At the end of the tour, each ticket holder also gets a unique souvenir whiskey glass to take home. 

All the Whiskey Museum tour tickets come with free audio guides in Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Mandarin.

Ticket Prices

Classic tour ticket price

Adult ticket (13 to 64 years): €23
Child ticket (5 to 12 years): €10
Student ticket (with valid ID): €21
Seniors ticket (65+ years): €21
Family ticket (2 adults + 2 kids): €62

*On the ticket booking page, you must select ‘Classic tour’

Premium tour ticket price

Adult ticket (13 to 64 years): 23 Euros
Student ticket (with valid ID): 21 Euros
Seniors ticket (65+ years): 21 Euros

*Since the Premium tour benefits don’t apply to kids, you must book the ‘Classic tour’ tickets for them. 

**On the ticket booking page, you must select ‘Premium tour’

Blending Experience

The Irish Whiskey Museum’s Blending Experience is a 90-minute adventure that is sure to blow your mind away.

Irish Whiskey Museum Blending Experience

First, you tour all the exhibits on display even as you listen to amazing stories by the tour guides. 

The fully guided tour is followed by an interactive tasting of four varieties of Irish Whiskey.

On the third leg of the tour, you learn to craft and blend Whiskey to your taste and take home a 30ml Irish Whiskey Museum branded bottle.

You will also get to taste four different Irish Whiskey flavors!

This Blending Experience tour is available only twice a day – at 4 pm and 6 pm. 

This experience is open only for 18+ visitors. 

You will have access to an English-speaking tour guide and also have the option to choose an audio guide from multiple languages.

Ticket Price: €35

Not sure if you must tour the Irish Whiskey Museum or Jameson Distillery? Follow the link for a fantastic comparison.


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How to reach the museum

Irish Whiskey Museum is in the middle of the city, located directly across the main entrance of Trinity College. 

The Address: 119, Grafton Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Get Directions

All public transport options, such as the bus, LUAS tram, train, taxis, etc., can get you closer to the attraction.

By Bus

If you are traveling from around Dublin City Center, get onto Bus No. 123, 9, 13, or 40 and get down at College Green (Stop 1278), just a one-minute walk away.

The Trinity College bus stop is also just a minute’s walk away.

By Tram

The Trinity College tram stop is just a two-minute walk away from the museum.

By Car

Put on Google Maps to navigate to the Irish Whiskey Museum.

Even though one can find a few car parking slots in the area, we don’t recommend it because the Museum is in a busy area.

If you are looking for it, here are some parking spots that can be found nearby.


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Irish Whiskey Museum timings

The Irish Whiskey Museum opens at 10.30 am and closes at 6 pm every day of the year. 

They are open even on St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas Day, and New Year.

Classic & Premium tours are the most popular at the Irish Whiskey Museum, and they start at 10.30 am. 

A new tour rolls off every half hour, and the last one is at 5.30 pm. 

The Whiskey Blending Experience tour happens at 4 pm and 6 pm daily. 


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How long does the tour last

Classic and Premium tours are two of the most popular tours at the Irish Whiskey Museum, and they are one hour long. 

At 1 hour and 15 minutes, the Whiskey Blending Experience lasts a little longer.

After your tours are over, visitors can hang around in the Museum’s McDonnell Bar, which overlooks the historic main gates of Trinity College Dublin.


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Best time to visit

The best time to visit the Irish Whiskey Museum is as soon as they open at 10.30 am because that gives you the whole day to visit yet another attraction. 

Some visitors prefer the evening time – around 5 pm so that they can continue their drinking session late into the night. 


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Visiting Whiskey Museum with kids

Children are welcome to join the Classic and the Premium tours at the Irish Whiskey Museum, Dublin. 

Kids below five years don’t need to buy tickets, but those between the ages of 5 and 12 must purchase a discounted ticket, which costs 10 Euros.

However, during the whiskey tasting, the children will either get a glass of water or a soft drink.

*Non-drinking adults will also get the same.

What to see at Irish Whiskey Museum

The Irish Whiskey Museum in Ireland is three floors of fun, including a coffee shop, gift store, and McDonnell’s Bar.

As part of the tours, visitors get to explore all three floors of the Museum. 

First Floor

All visitors enter the Whiskey Museum at this level. 

This floor has the reception and the gift shop, which stocks more than 100 different Irish whiskeys and beautiful Irish souvenir gifts.

Second Floor

The tour starts from the second floor, which has three rooms – the Apothecary, the Shebeen, and the Victorian Bar. 

To give you a sense of the size of the rooms, the Apothecary and the Shebeen can each hold 25 people standing, while the Victorian Bar can hold 45 people standing. 

Each of these rooms narrates the history of Irish Whiskey during a particular time. 

Apothecary Room

The story of ‘The Origin of Irish Whiskey’ is told inside this room.  

In here, one finds out why the Irish called whiskey ‘Uisce Beatha’ (or water of life).

This room traces the origins of Irish whiskey, beginning with early attempts at distillation. 

Shebeen Room

This room is all about the ‘The Olden Times of Irish Whiskey.’  

The room was named after Shebeens, which is an unlicensed bar or private house selling illicit liquor in the rural area.

During this period, Ireland was full of backyard distillers who used their crude stills and made poteen, the traditional illicit Irish drink. 

Victorian Bar

This room is styled like a Victorian bar and narrates the story of ‘The Boom Times of Irish Whiskey’.

During this golden era of Irish Whiskey, Ireland had numerous multinational distillers who were exporting to all parts of the world. 

Third Floor

The third floor of the Irish Whiskey Museum in Dublin has the Renaissance room and the Tasting and Blending rooms. 

Renaissance room

This is the final exhibit room of the tour, and here, you explore the decline of the Irish whiskey industry over the 20th century and its resurgence starting from the 1980s.

Tasting Bar & Blending Room

After 35 minutes of Irish Whiskey history, you reach this room for a 15-minute session on the flavors and aromas of 3 Irish whiskeys from different distilleries. 

If you have opted for the Premium tour, you get to taste four different whiskeys. 

After the tasting is over, your tour is officially over. 

You then get back to the first floor in a spectacular glass lift, which allows you to enjoy the building’s Edwardian architecture.

Once down, you can head to the fully functional McDonnell’s Bar, which has an impressive selection of Irish whiskeys.


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Tripadvisor reviews

Irish Whiskey Museum is highly rated on Tripadvisor.

Below, we share two of Ireland’s Whiskey Museum reviews, which give you an idea of what to expect. 

A must-do while visiting Ireland

I did this tour last year in May, and I still talk about how informative and fun the trip was. I enjoyed learning the history of whiskey. Mark, our tour guide, made the experience very interesting, not to mention the Irish coffees my husband and I had while waiting, which were super delicious! I would recommend this tour to anyone who loves history with great Whiskey. – Malorie T

Great learning experience

My friend and I did the Irish Whiskey Museum tour & tasting on March 12th. Paddy was our guide, and he was fantastic. The trip was a great combo of educational and fun! I learned a lot about the rich history of Irish Whiskey. If you’re in Dublin, I recommend it! – Matt S

Fancy some Jameson Whiskey? Find out which Jameson whiskey distillery is better.


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Irish Whiskey Museum FAQs

When it comes to the Irish Whiskey Museum, visitors have lots of questions.

We try to answer a few of them –

  1. Is the Irish Whiskey Museum worth it?

    This unique Dublin Museum is totally worth it for three reasons.It is the biggest Whiskey Museum in the world, it is the only Irish Whiskey Museum in the world, and it is not associated with any Whiskey Brand, allowing it to be an independent chronicler of whiskey history.

  2. Can non-drinkers join the Irish Whiskey Museum tours?

    Yes, non-drinking adults can also join the tours.During the tasting sessions, they can ask for a cold drink or a glass of water.

  3. Can kids visit the Irish Whiskey Museum?

    Yes, kids of all ages can visit the Whiskey Museum in Ireland. However, kids below 18 years of age can’t participate in the whiskey tastings.During the tasting sessions, they will be offered a cold drink or a glass of water.

  4. Do visitors need a tour ticket to visit the Bar at the Irish Whiskey Museum?

    No, visitors don’t need tickets to access the McDonnell’s Bar and the Gift shop.

  5. Can whiskey tastings be done at the Bar at the Irish Whiskey Museum?

    The Whiskey Museum offers different whiskey-tasting ‘flights’ at the McDonnell’s Bar.During these tasting sessions, the bartenders, who are also whiskey experts, talk about the whiskeys and guide the visitors.

  6. Can I buy the Irish Whiskey Museum’s tour tickets at the door?

    Yes, visitors can buy tickets from the ticket counter at the Museum.However, we don’t recommend it for two reasons – online tickets are cheaper, and during busy periods/weekends, your preferred time slot may already be sold out.This is why it is better to book your tickets in advance.

  7. How many people are there on each Whiskey Museum tour?

    The tours can have a maximum of 28 people. However, the guides don’t wait for these numbers to be achieved before starting their tours.The tours start at the stipulated times, with all the available tourists.

  8. Does Dublin Pass allow free entry to the Irish Whiskey Museum?

    Unfortunately no. The Dublin Pass gets you free access to 30+ attractions in Dublin, but misses out on this Whiskey Museum. 

  9. How to go from the Irish Whiskey Museum to the Guinness Storehouse?

    Guinness Storehouse is 2 km (1.25 Miles) from the Irish Whiskey Museum.Irish Whiskey Museum to Guinness StorehouseSome visitors walk this distance in about 25 minutes, while others opt for a cab that can get you there in five minutes.

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This article was researched & written by

Edited by Rekha Rajan & fact checked by Jamshed V Rajan

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