New series: Ireland’s only exclusively Scotch whisky club, the Hibernian Whisky Club

Dublin’s Hibernian Whisky Club is forging a deep cultural exploration of the Scottish whisky tradition and building friendships at the same time

It was a visit to a Bordeaux wine club that gave Alan Robinson, the chair of Dublin’s two-year-old Hibernian Whisky Club, his first spark of an idea. “I was intrigued by the idea of a social club that offered a cultural experience,” he says with enthusiasm, as he recounts meeting a group of people who were so fascinated with the wine of the Bordeaux region in France that they built an entire club around it.

“We focused on Scotch simply because we wanted to explore a region in the most impactful way. The club members aren’t whisky experts. We have an emerging common interest and are on a shared journey. We wanted to ensure we chose a world whisky region that could sustain multiple meetings and many different bottlings and styles.”

Drinking only Scotch, always dressed in tuxedos and meeting in exclusive private member clubs, this Irish social group is setting a new trend