The idea for a Whiskey Tasting was born spontaneously. The ICE team were discussing ideas to develop the project, do a fundraiser for the site’s setup and running cost (ICE is providing free advertisement for non-commercial event organisers, something that we would like to keep free of charge also in the future), bring the community closer together and, of course, have lots of craic in the process. The team figured that an evening full of malts and Whiskey stories would meet all of these criteria, and off they went and were soon caught up in getting the project off the ground.

They soon realised that partners with space, whiskey competence and… well, whiskey would be needed and were lucky enough to find them in spite of short notice in Murphy’s Irish Pub Berlin, Robert Dunst, whiskey connoisseur and fellow enthusiast, and a local business with the amazing name ‘Geistreich und benebelt’. All of them contributed to making June 8 a memorable night – while the team were battling renitent ticketing systems, visions vs. budget/reality and a general reluctance of the average Berliner to indulge in a night with a raised blood alcohol level in the middle of the week.

And this, folks, is why you, the lovely people who eventually came for ICE’s maiden event, deserve the biggest thank you of all: you were willing to face a tired day at work on June 9 to check out a new event, to taste malts, ask questions and share opinions, and you helped ICE to add a SOLD OUT!! DEBUT EVENT to its brief but intense history.

We dare say the evening was a success, because that’s what you told us: we all learned some new and fun facts about Whiskey, added some Irish/Scottish gaelic vocabulary to our knowledge and exchanged associations covering a range from vanilla and lemons to burned car tyre and stuff we can’t repeat because we’d be in trouble with our Moms. In the tasting were: Glenmorangie (10y), Kilbeggan, Green Spot, Glendronach (8y), Highland Park (10y) and Connemara, a nice selection of three Irish Whiskeys and three Scotches. And while tastes are different, the final voting revealed Green Spot, a single pot still with “hints of peppermint, malt, sweet barley, sugary porridge, creamy vanilla, papaya and citrus” fêted by critics as the night’s winner.

Were you not going to reveal something else, you’re asking? Will you ever get down to bloody business, you’re wondering? Yes, we will, and thank you for following the review and ICE until here. You’ve probably guessed it: we liked the evening so much, we can’t wait to see you again and have ANOTHER! The VENUE WILL CHANGE, so this time we hope to see you at a venue to be confirmed with live music. Spread the word, grab a ticket and JOIN US once more for malts & music!

Before we’ll let you enjoy what’s left of your summer break, we want to give you a big warm thank you for being ICE’s community, for supporting, encouraging, liking and sharing our posts and for “keeping the green momentum going” after the launch for St. Patrick’s Day. We are very excited about how quickly this project developed from a web platform to an “Irish Event” in itself and are looking forward to continue this journey together with you in October. Wir sehen uns dann, meanwhile enjoy the summer while it lasts, and if you attend any cool Irish events in Berlin, make sure to mail, message, facebook, twitter, instagram or whatever us, we will be happy to see & share what you’re up to and keep painting the town green. Sláinte and see you!

Although the craft revolution is about to change that, beer tastings are still a bit of a rarity on Berlin’s event circuit, and not everyone present knows what to expect. A renowned beer specialist and explicit critic of the application of the Reinheitsgebot, Lawton is there to guide an audience of beer-loving amateurs as well as professionals through eight different brands, and he does so with the same expertise, passion and enthusiasm of a connoisseur of wine or whisky.

Before actually tasting anything, the audience get to learn some interesting facts about the history of brewing, top fermenting versus bottom fermenting beers and the London Beer Flood. The evening’s first surprise for some of Lawton’s listeners is that the term ‘craft beer’ is not as new as the recent hype surrounding it suggests. Often associated with small breweries relating to large companies approximately like indie record labels to Sony BMG and Warner Music, it was actually coined by the American Brewer’s Association in the 1960s and is today, as Lawton explains, “basically a marketing gag”.

Knowing that, the next surprise makes more sense: the list of beers to be tasted includes not only what’s currently perceived as craft beer in the above mentioned sense, but also German classics Pilsner Urquell and Tap 7 Mein Original by Schneider Weisse. Also on the list: Long Arm (Boyne Brewhouse), London Porter (Fuller, Smith & Turner), Maple Walnut Stout (Berliner Bierfabrik), Pale Ale (Sierra Nevada), Rebel IPA (Samuel Adams) and Hardcore IPA (BrewDog).

Encourgaed by Lawton, the assembled beer tasters quickly overcome their shyness in sharing their taste associations: whether it’s the citrusy notes of the Dortmund-style Long Arm, the intense chocolate and coffee taste of London Porter, the exotic fruit aromas present in Rebel IPA or the banana-like flavor of Schneider Weisse, it quickly becomes clear that there’s more to beer – labeled craft or not – than hop, malt and yeast.

In the end of the evening, every participant gets to vote one favorite, and the result is a surprisingly even distribution of preferences. The bottom line is that one might disagree on matters of taste, the term “craft beer” and Scandinavian lagers in general, but the enjoyment taken in a good Feierabendbier (in this case, several) is unanimous. Thank yous go out to the organizers, Rory Lawton who did the tutoring free of charge and the Salt’n’Bone bar staff who sacrificed their free Monday night to make this happen.

The atmosphere at Kreuzberg’s beautiful Passionskirche is festive and the venue sold out for Norland Wind’s long expected Berlin concert. The current line-up sees five top class musician joining forces for a gorgeous spring evening filled with nordic and celtic tunes and songs. The diverse backgrounds of the members make for a large part of Norland Wind’s incredible dynamic and energy. So, may we introduce the band to you before rather than after the concert today?

Singer, guitarist, songwriter and composer Kerstin Blodig is the only Berliner on stage, although her music is inspired by her Norwegian background and her preoccupation with Norwegian traditional music. The band’s much-cited Clannad connection – a group which won numerous awards including a Grammy – is Donegal native Noel Duggan on guitar and vocals.

On the keyboards (all the way from Odense, Denmark): Johann Skov-Hansen, a talented young pianist who will later have one of the night’s great solo moments. Thomas Loefke, originally from the Black Forest region in Germany’s southwest, learned his craft from Ireland’s leading harp players. Angelika Nielsen, born in Vestmanna on the Faroe Islands, is her home country’s leading lady on the fiddle and a regular member of the Faroese Symphony Orchestra. All of the musicians tour and record together in various constellations and have other projects with some of our time’s leading folk artists going.

After a ravishing intro by the full band, the evening’s first highlight is Kerstin Blodig’s rendition of the folk tale of the wild bird which is featured in both the Norwegian and German canon of legends. The singer’s breathtaking vocals, her skillful guitar playing and the effortlessness of her solo performance make it easy for the listeners to empathize with the infatuation of the king upon listening to the bird who chooses the freedom of the forest over the riches in the palace.

Noel Duggan takes up the torch with a touching performance of the Irish ballad Foggy Dew – a perfect choice for the days leading up to the centenary of the Easter Rising as the song chronicles the events of the 1916 rebellion led by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse and has been performed and recorded by many feted folk artists over the past decades.

After the political and historical intermezzo, many a tale is told that night. Stories of a raven, a rock in the sea and the full moon, all of them brilliantly arranged and effectively staged with loop stations, take the audience on a dreamy journey to distant shores, ancient myths and the enigmatic realm between legend, reality and states of the human soul. The setting and great acoustics of the Neo-romanesque Passionskirche lets them resonate even more intensely within the listeners.

Yet, the transition to current affairs of our time is effortless in Blodig’s performance of Melissa Etheridge’s I Need To Wake Up, a song which is connected to burning questions of our time via its usage in Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth and addresses the need ‘to move, to wake up to change and to shake up’ in order to make a difference.

Angelika Nielsen and Thomas Loefke bring up the rear of stunning performances with a fiddle/harp duo set featuring of one of Nielsen’s own compositions which according to her was inspired during a tour in Scotland and which leaves the audience audibly breathless before a storm of well-deserved applause breaks out. Even after being treated to an encore, some listeners don’t want to let the band leave, and enthusiastic ‘One more song!’-shouts fade first after the stage lights have been switched off.

Norland Wind’s next concert is in Dresden, but for all Berliners who want more after that night, the Berlin concert dates of the artists’ various projects can be found at thomasloefke.eu – and of course, over the coming weeks and months, on ice-berlin.com.

‘Why do we need those nuptial traditions, Paying for liqour and for musicians, Idlers eating all of your food, Guzzling your malt till thoroughly stewed.’ (Brian Merriman, Cúirt An Mheán Oíche / The Midnight Court)

Irish traditional music lives, and very often its natural habitat is a busy pub where session players are crammed into dimly lit corners taking it away over a few pints. Experiencing that kind of music on stage is a rare treat, even more so at a venue with the stunningly good acoustics of the Theatersaal at Berlin’s UFA-Fabrik.

The audience are in for that kind of treat as Midnight Court musicians Aaron Shirlow, Bernd Lüdtke, Noel Minogue and Jimmy Dee take the stage on Saturday night to invite around 160 listeners on a three hour tour de force through the world of Celtic music and dancing.

Named after Brian Merriman’s poem, the band have been around for some twenty years, recorded three studio albums, toured Europe and the U.S., supported renowned artists like Emmylou Harris and composed the score for the ballet production “Irish Soul” – and that’s just naming a few of their credits. Often labeled a “folk act” by German press, their live sets combines traditional Irish tunes with both cover and original songs.

It’s a mixture which makes for an entertaining, emotional and enlightening concert experience, and the different cultural and musical backgrounds of Shirlow (Belfast, Vocals & Guitar), Minogue (Tipperary, Button Accordion), Lüdtke (Berlin, Fiddle & Bouzouki) and Dee (Glasgow, Highland Pipes & Drums), whose innovative drumming deserves a special mention blend into a dynamite cocktail of pulsating tunes and songs during their first set.

German audiences are infamous for their reluctance to dance, and despite repeated encouragement from Shirlow no one gets up, but the energy and liveliness make it hard for listeners to keep their feet still, and the tapping, clapping and smiling faces throughout the theatre show that the band have their listeners on their side in spite of some undeniable German stiffness.

The dancing part of the evening is left to the pros tutored by Sandra Kuhnert, owner of Jigs & Reels Dance Academy, who gave a half hour performance after the break. The impressive precision and presence of the exclusively female dancers is beautiful to watch and met with enthusiastic applause just before Midnight Court’s musician guests Neil MacDonald (Vocals and Guitar) and Sinead Hayes (Fiddle), both members of Berlin’s Celtic Music Collective Huas, get on stage for a second set of tunes and songs.

It is obvious the two top-notch musicians have been playing together a lot. Galway native Hayes – the unusual and inspiring combination of one of her generation’s top class trad fiddlers and an equally accomplished classical player and conductor – leaves the audience gasping after her three reel set. MacDonald’s touching performance of the traditional song ‘Maggie’ – the timelessness of which he announces to the German audience by explaining that it could easily be “about a girl living in a little village in Brandenburg and all the guys worrying about her leaving for… say, Nordrhein-Westfalen” – compels listeners through the vocals and skillful guitar playing.

Midnight Court finish off the evening with their second set, which sees them performing one of the evening’s undisputed highlights: their cover of Bill Staines’ sweeping “Roseville Fair”. A brief moment of irritation upon the start of the song shows how well the four musicians are in tune with each other as it is gracefully and skillfully played over, and off they go into a tune which in all its country-like happy-go-luckiness creates the most touching and captivating moment of the night.

So why DO we need those nuptial traditions, along with the musicians, the dancers, the tunes and the songs? Every single one of the listeners who came probably has their own answer – for the music, the smiles, the stage banter, the collective experience, and so on. A typically Irish one, though, would be “for the craic”. There surely was a lot of it that night and the post-concert malt, if there was any, more than well deserved by the performers.

The melancholy and uneasiness are still tangible in the theater as the end credits of “I Used To Live Here” roll. Frank Barry’s award winning film is a fiercely powerful drama about a 13 year old coming to terms with her mother’s death while experiencing the temptation of suicide after witnessing the sympathy shown for a local suicide victim.

Tonight’s audience at Shebeen Flick are in for one more walk in the shadowland of embracing life while coping with loss and death as the feature is followed by Simon Fagan’s and Eric Tiedt’s animated music video “Lost To The Deep”, in which the protagonist confronts the loss of loved ones through his inner mind.

Almost invariably evoking associations with current migration movements and lives lost to the sea in search of survival and refuge, Fagan’s beautifully crafted singer-songwriter piece lyrically addresses reality, fantasy, life and death – a topic which Tiedt’s over 600 touching hand-drawn scenes from a world under the surface of the ocean illustrates in an intense and haunting way.

After treating Shebeen Flick visitors to a Q&A as well as a life performance by Simon, both artists and festival director Fernanda Parente were up for a spontaneous chat with ICE Berlin.

Q: Fernanda, how did you become aware of this project and that it should be shown in a festival environment?

F: I was at another event where Simon was performing alongside the video, and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love with the images and the music. It won an award in Cork, and I thought it was very cinematic and that it would be nice to show it to more people in a proper kind of cinema environment on the big screen.

Q: Simon and Eric, I understand this was your first music video co-operation. Have you worked on any projects before this?

S: No, we just met through a friend and didn’t know each other before this. It’s our first collaboration. I’m trying to convince him to do more.

E: Maybe.

Q: We would love to see more.

E: I’m currently working on another animation project that will take around two years to complete. There will be 3D and 2D involved, so it’s a bit of a change of technique.

Q: How was the idea born that the music video for “Lost To The Deep” should be an animation? Was that because of your collaboration, or did you have that in mind from the start ?

S: No, I wanted to do an animation for this.

Q: Did you have a particular inspiration for that? There’s lots of great animated music videos, like Michel Gondry’s White Stripes video is one that comes to mind for example.

S: I think when you talk about syncing music and animation at the top of the bill is probably Damon Albarn’s and Jamie Hewletts Gorillaz videos. That is the benchmark, that kind of stuff.

Q: Since this is an interview for Irish Culture Events Berlin, we’re interested in your reasons to come to Berlin. What does that journey mean for you – being an Irish musician in Berlin and what made you choose the city over other places?

S: I came here after having toured the last record, so I was on the road for 18 months. And the last gig I played was in Cologne, and I decided not to go back to Ireland and come to Berlin. I came to Berlin very sporadically with a guitar and a rucksack and 500 Euro and stayed in Rosenthaler Platz hostel for ten days. Then I went out busking in the streets, managed to get an apartment and just started building a new thing here. Why I came here? I needed change, things weren’t really moving in Ireland. So Berlin – why not?

Q: What do you think so far? What kind of surrounding is Berlin for music in particular and Irish music specifically?

S: Berlin is a tough place. It’s a tough place particularly as a musician because – let’s face it, it’s probably one of the poorest capital cities of Europe. There’s lots of artists. It’s a great place to come to and create something. As an artist it’s important to move outside the city, in the rest of Europe or America or wherever. So Berlin is an amazing place to create something, because it’s the low cost of living that gives the opportunity to actually…

[At this point, he is interrupted by a street musician with an accordion who appeared like on cue and can’t be convinced to stop during the rest of the conversation]

F: That’s Berlin now.

S:… play.

Q: What about your work, Eric? You’re an animation film maker, so you know what it means to be an artist in Berlin.

E: Well, at the moment, yes. I’ve been making illustrations for many years. Three years ago I decided to make animations, to try a new thing and develop new skills. So right now it’s that, but who knows, in the future it might be painting. It’s open, so I don’t really now yet, and that is possible here. But for now it’s animation. In animation you have to do everything. You have to act, you have to direct, you have to write stories. That’s why I’m into it.

Q: Is this your first music video project? What is your perspective on that? Is it something you want to explore more?

E: I made three videos in the last five years. But it takes a lot of time, so maybe one video each year…

Q: What exactly is the technique you’re using? You said earlier in the Q&A you were drawing over 600 sheets for “Lost To The Deep”.

E: For this one, yes. But in the future I will do more animated stuff working directly on the computer. It’s a lot easier, and you can correct more. You lose a bit of feeling without paper, but at the end of the day you have a lot of advantages.

Q: Same question as to Simon, any artists you find inspiring or that you would consider influences on your work?

E: Hard to say. When it comes to animation, Japanese artists of course, like Miyazaki. But I only just came into animation. It’s not like I’ve been wanting to do this since I was a child. Somehow I got there and right now I want to do that. Someday I might want to write. I don’t know.

Q: This question goes to you, Fernanda. You said you fell in love with this particular video and wanted to give it a cinema setting. Will there be more music videos by Irish artists at the festival? Music videos are still a bit of a sub-genre after all those years of MTV. Screening them at festivals and in cinemas in general more would probably open up new audiences.

F: Maybe, yes. But for me there is no difference between a short film and a music video. I think the work that goes into the visuals and the sounds, if it’s music or dialogue, it doesn’t make a difference. I like the possibilities of festivals. One of the things I try to do is value short films by pairing them with feature films that have – well, maybe a certain tone, or mood, or running theme. At big film festivals, that is definitely a harder task because the short films get a bit forgotten. They get all bundled together in one programme, they might have very different styles and moods, and I think it’s hard to absorb. If you talk to the press, everybody’s generally more interested in the feature films. So I like highlighting just one short film with a feature because they have something in common. And in this case, it is a certain mood, a certain experience.

Q: That would have been my next, and last question. What was the motivation to put these two movies together?

F: I think both films deal with the idea of loss. There is a melancholic thing about both of them that made me think they would fit together. But you know, for me, it didn’t make a difference if it was a music video or a traditional short film. I think they go well together.

Q: I think they both where a lot about the feeling of being displaced and disoriented as well. In all sorts of ways, geographically, emotionally – growing up, being under water… So for me it was not only about loss but about being lost as well.

F: You guys think they worked together?

S: I think they worked extremely well together, it was a very great arrangement.

“Lost To The Deep” can be viewed on Simon Fagan’s official website. The song is part of his latest record Gilded Bird, which is also his first to be recorded and produced in Berlin.

#1 Hello there Ardal, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today, we’re really looking forward to your show at Urban Spree later this week. How has 2016 been treating you so far, and do you have any new projects on the horizon?

2016 is shaping up to be a pretty good year work-wise. I’m enjoying stand-up more than ever, doing a sitcom pilot in March, and a BBC drama during the summer. The Berlin date is the culmination of a European mini-tour taking in Brussels, Antwerp and Amsterdam.

#2 Did you have the opportunity to visit Germany much throughout your career? How do you think Irish people in general perceive Germans? We’re also interested to know what your associations and perceptions of Berlin are nowadays?

I’ve only done one show in Germany. That was in Hamburg about 20 years ago. However I do like to visit Germany as a civilian. I spent a summer in Munich when I was a student working in beer gardens and restaurant kitchens and absolutely loved it (apart from a brush with Scientology and a minor kidnapping incident). I loved it so much that a few years ago I brought my family on holidays to Bavaria for a month. I’ve only been to Berlin once for a long weekend to celebrate my wife’s birthday. She had the flu and stayed in the hotel, so my experience was fairly limited… but I do remember getting a nice haircut and a fabulous pair of boots. The Holocaust memorial also sticks out in my mind as being a very powerful monument. Irish people generally resent the German banks for lending us too much money and then wanting it all back! We also suspect that the EU dice is loaded in the favour of the bigger nations. But my impression of German people is that they are very fair-minded.

#3 You’re perhaps better known for your TV work, but we found it interesting that you’ve won awards for your stand up comedy going as far back as 1994. In what ways has your approach to preparing for comedy shows you do today changed since you started out?

I have always loved stand-up. It’s part of my DNA, more lifestyle choice than a job. When I started I had a more rigid, wide-eyed persona and well-crafted, slightly surreal lines. But now it’s a bit more organic, personality-driven, free-flowing and energetic.

#4 Who is the first famous German that pops into your head, and why?

I suppose it has to be Angela Merkel. She looms large in all our lives, even in Ireland. And I greatly admired her stance on the migrant crisis last year. I’m also a big fan of Schweinsteiger (about 5 years ago). And, of course, Kraftwerk.

#5 Berlin is known as a global capital of techno music. Have you ever been into it at all?

I’m into all kinds of music (see Kraftwerk above) but I can’t dance. Alas, I’m a dancer trapped in the body of a tree.

#6 So you’re currently on tour. Do you enjoy life on the road more or less than you used to? What’s the worst thing you’ve encountered on tour?

I enjoy it more because I don’t do it as often. I look forward to it, especially travelling abroad. I also make a bigger effort nowadays to visit museums, see sights, eat well. The worst thing that ever happened on tour was somebody dying at one of my shows.

#7 Of all the great characters on your hit show, Father Ted, which one do you think would have the best spin-off show if it were broadcast today?

It would have to be the singer Eoin McLove’s Christmas special, complete with duets with special guests like One Direction and Beyonce.

#8 You’ve spent a fair bit of time touring in the US. If you could vote in their upcoming election who would you pick, and why?

I’d pick Bernie Sanders as he is reasonably normal and not in the pocket of big business and Wall St. But because he’s perceived as too left wing he’s probably unelectable. So the sensible vote would be for Hilary Clinton.

Bonus Question: What is your favourite Irish saying?

If you expect a kick in the balls and you get a slap in the face, it’s a victory.

Here is the original article by Brendan Power @ Berlin Loves You