A cask of Irish whiskey will travel by canal to Dublin this weekend for the first time in over half a century - but it will need the help of Ned the horse to make it!
This Saturday at 12 noon, Kilbeggan will travel five decades back in time to when whiskey was regularly transported from Midlands distilleries to Dublin by canal. Using vintage vehicles, and of course Ned the Clydesdale, the cask will make its way from Kilbeggan Distillery to the Grand Canal at Ballycommon.
The cask of nine-year-old whiskey will make its way by a vintage Leyland van from the distillery to the Kilbeggan canal line, where Ned the horse will take over and transport it down the dry canal to Ballycommon in his vintage cart.
En route, the cask will be escorted by a fleet of vintage cycles and horseriders to prevent any bandits or brigands intercepting this historic whiskey before it reaches the safety of the Grand Canal.
At Ballycommon, the cask will board a heritage barge crewed by veterans of the commercial canal era, who will escort it to Dublin, where it will be bottled later this year.
Half a century ago, all manner of goods were transported across Ireland by the Grand Canal, and many of those former canal boatmen are still alive today.
The whiskey from the cask will be bottled as Locke's ‘Grand Crew’ whiskey and the intention is to present each of the surviving boatmen with a bottle later in the year.
Visit www.grandcrew.iwai.ie for some further information on the historic event.
