'Honoured and humbled' - Mayo venue is 'Irish Whiskey Bar of the Year'

A popular Mayo venue has been awarded the title of Irish Whiskey Bar of the Year. Years of hard work by the team at the Old Grainstore in Westport have paid off: “We are honoured and humbled,” says Vivian Walsh, owner of the Old Grainstore. “This incredible achievement would not have been possible without the support of our loyal customers, the whiskey community and all of you hwo voted for us.”

Walsh thanked everyone on behalf of the team 'from the bottom of our hearts.' He sent out a special thanks to “our dedicated staff, whose passion, hard work and commitment to excellence make everything we do possible.”

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The Irish Whiskey Industry Awards 2025 are part of Belfast Whiskey Week, the largest whiskey festival in Ireland.

The story of the Old Grainstore bar started in 2017 but the history of the building stretches over two and a half centuries.

When Walsh took over the building eight years ago, he had the keys in his hand to what was always his 'most vivid dream', His own pub.

The name was changed from Conway's to The Old Grainstore. It had a working Grainstore to the rear of the building, which operated until the late 1970's.

Walsh talked to quite a few older people in the community to find out what the pub looked like and represented in the mid 1900's and gathered a huge amount of information off them.

With that in mind, he restored the old building. The first part of the mission was to restore the old bar at the front and locate and reinstate the original fireplace which had been closed up for over 40 years.

Bar business opened on April 15 in 2017. “The aim was to provide a great drinks selection but largely based on a huge range of Irish and world whiskies.

The Whiskey offering started to grow and so did our customer base. We were very limited for space so more had to be created but I wasn't sure when it could be done.”

During restoration works, they found some lovely artefacts relating to John Gibbons, whose family owned the pub for most of the 1900's.

They also found old ledgers and invoice books dated as far back as 1920 and some old Whiskey and beer labels with his name and address on them showing that he was a whiskey bonder and bottler.

“We also found some ration books from World War 2, as local people came here for their provisions during that time.

The jewel in the crown was really the invoice to prove he bought casks of Jameson Whiskey from their distillery to bottle himself here in this premises.

I cannot explain the levels of elation and excitement felt on discovering them.”

They were buried under a 6 inch layer of pigeon droppings which lay on the floor of the loft of the Old Grainstore.

Walsh is currently putting together a collage of memorabilia related to the pub to put on display.
The rich history of the pub might soon come full circle, with The Old Grainstore named Irish Whiskey Bar of the Year.

“From grain to glass this award is for all of you who believed in what we do,” Vivian Walsh said: “Here's too many more drams together.”

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