Eddie Langton is a founding member and chairperson of Kilkenny Whiskey Guild. He represents Langtons on the historic John Street Kilkenny. Langtons bar was established in 1938 and now includes Langtons Hotel, Set Theatre, Bridies Bar, John Street Tea Rooms and The Garden Restaurant. Langton's Kilkenny has been the proud recipient of many national awards and accolades:  Bar of the Year a record 5 times and IMRO national venue of the year amongst others. Eddie was born into the pub trade and is passionate about the future of the industry whilst respecting and exploring the history on which it has been built – and it is this interest that has led to much of the historical research for the Guild and its roots in Medieval Kilkenny.
 

Jim Rafferty is the manager and driving force behind the Dylan Whisky Bar and Biddy Early's cocktail bar Kilkenny. The DWB opened it's doors in 2009 after an extensive period of development as a destination bar for whiskey enthusiasts. He is a co founder of the KWG as he saw the potential to promote Kilkenny to whiskey lovers with it's small city centre and exceptional selection of bars. He is an innovative bar professional with over 30 years experience and has won Irish Whiskey Bar Awards in 2016, 2017 & 2018 as well as winning Irish Craft Cocktail Award for Leinster in those years. He won Irish Restaurant Awards 'Pub Of The Year, Kilkenny' in 2019 and was named Icons Of Whisky Bar Manager Of The Year 2019/20 for outstanding service to the Irish whiskey industry and was runner up for 2020/21.

Pat Crotty is the owner of the award winning Paris Texas Bar & Restaurant and a founder member of The Kilkenny Whiskey Guild. Paris Texas is one of Kilkenny’s favourite destinations and a veritable emporium for the premium drinks enthusiast with a fantastic range of cocktails and a world of Whiskey on the shelves. Whiskey is also regularly used a key ingredient in the food menu. Pat drives our education program, which is central to our goal of delivering excellence in customer experience. As Pat himself puts it - ‘in order for us to offer cutomers a great Irish Whiskey experience in Kilkenny, all Guild House staff need to be knowledgable about Irish Whiskey’

Founder & manager of KWG, Cyril is involved in strategy, planning, design and execution of all Guild activities. As an independent adviser to the industry he has six Irish Whiskey awards to his record to date. Cyril is the liaison between The Guild and our valued industry partners looking after key relationships and developing new strands and projects. He also looks after our event management and memberships. He is our point of contact for all Guild enquiries and can be contacted directly on info[at]kilkennywhiskeyguild.com