WITH the third largest St Patrick’s Day Parade in the world and a strong Irish heritage, The Birmingham Whisky Club decided to celebrate the Feast of Saint Patrick the best way it can, with lashings of delicious whiskey.

Earlier this month the club was joined by legendary Irish whiskey producers Bushmills for a journey through the history of distillation in Ireland and the rise of Irish whiskey, currently enjoying a massive resurgence.

Yes, with experts predicting a boom in Irish whiskey in the next few years this is the perfect chance to sample some of the Emerald Isles's finest.

The event, held at The Wellington in Birmingham, gives people an opportunity to sample Bushmills Original, Bushmills Black Bush, Bushmills Red Bush. Bushmills 10-year-old and Bushmills 21-year-old.

On this particulate occasion there was even a miniature and stylish glass tumbler you could take home.

Everything is set up for when you arrive and a guest speaker guides you through each marvellous dram.

But don't worry there is no test at the end and the whole evening is very a friendly and laid back affair.

There are plenty of opportunities to ask lots of questions and our host from The Birmingham Whisky Club, Vicky, is on hand to steer things back in the right direction if things get a little rowdy.

As well as enjoying drinking lots of whiskey I actually learned a lot about the drink, as well as Bushmills (which has been producing since 1608) and their incredible range.

At the end of the evening you even get to have another cheeky dram of your preferred choice.

For this man, on this night, it was the Bushmills 21-year-old which proved a firm favourite with all the thirsty participants.

Perfect for whiskey novices as well as those with a little more experience the evening was gentle, relaxed and sweet - not completely unlike the Bushmills 21-year-old.

Bushmills is Ireland’s oldest distillery and their multi-award winning products are now available all over the world.

The Birmingham Whisky Club, set up in 2011, regularly host these wonderful evenings.

The club have teamed up with multi-award winning Japanese whisky brand Nikka to bring three great events to the city.

For more information on this, click here.

For more on the club or to book a whiskey tasting, visit thebirminghamwhiskyclub.co.uk or facebook.com/TheBirminghamWhiskyClub.