Irish Whiskey Society first cask bottling

[jcskinner]

Perhaps the bikers or a cohort thereof could be persuaded to conduct a raid on the boat to secure a bottle for themselves!
Would make a great photo op.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Perhaps the bikers or a cohort thereof could be persuaded to conduct a raid on the boat to secure a bottle for themselves!
Would make a great photo op.

That would be a bit of a laugh all right ... good idea and a bit of fun. I'm sure a leather clad biker would easily pass off as a modern day buccaneer .... Aarrrrrr me matey

[jcskinner]

I'm required at Dublin airport by 5.30pm, so won't be able to stay for the whole day. But I'll be there for the start of the shenanigans.

[PureDrop]

Sadly, Motorbikes and Clydesdales may not mix. Similarly, we may discourage similar raids by barge crews.
But it is a good idea and they may like to hold up the Leyland!
Pic of "Ned", the Clydesdale with owners and the Leyland FG (1969) and owners follow:

[Garry Carroll]

Sorry to be joining this thread late but, as far as I remember, there was some issue around the label not having been cleared by Industry & Commerce (or whoever) for public sale and that clearing it would have pushed the price up considerably? Private sale (e.g. by various societies to their members) would be considered a 'private' sale., so wouldn't be affected. If this is the case, how can anyone get a bottle from Ally? Did I miss something along the way?

Garry.

[Michael Foggarty]

What if it was found on Ally's doorstep?

Whats the odds on this bottle coming out top in The Whiskey Bible 2010 ??

It ticks all the boxes for Jim Murray, no caramel, cask strength, single cask etc etc

[TheWhiskeyBro]

I'll give you 4/1, having sampled it I can't see it beating some of the better casks of Tyrconnel 15yo's .

[PureDrop]

Makr Gillespie of http://www.whiskeycast.com was kind enough to interview us.
Listen to episode 215 of http://www.whiskeycast.com, about 8 minutes in.
/M

[PureDrop]

Feach air an Nuacht ag a seacht a chlog ar TG4 anocht. Beidh piosa beag air faoi Locke's, an "Grand Crew" agus agallamh le Larry McGrath agus Andy Roche.

(Check out the 7-o-clock news on TG4 tonight where hopefully we'll see a piece on the Grand Crew project, and an interview with former boatman Larry McGrath, and also a piece on Locke's distillery).

[jcskinner]

Malt Advocate editor John Hansell has just plugged us on his blog, WDJK. Short and sweet, but he's also asked for review samples of both casks, so I'm hoping for coverage in Malt Advocate at a future date too.
http://blog.maltadvocate.com/2009/08/29 ... h-whiskey/

[jcskinner]

And here's the first footage of the event for those who didn't manage to make it down to Kilbeggan yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZFxCtdQurk

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Excellent Jim ... I have a few pics from the Distillery side that I'll get up asap.

[PureDrop]

Folks, I've updated the Grand Crew website at http://grandcrew.iwai.ie.
The Gallery includes the first batch of photos from yesterday (no captions yet). See http://grandcrew.iwai.ie/gallery/

Yesterday was a fantastic example of organisations and individuals cooperating enthusiastically to deliver a fantastic result and very very enjoyable day. We also had the usual suspects putting in tremendous effort, Offaly IWAI branch, HBA, the 107B project barge crew and the Kilbeggan Harbour Ameniety Group. The Irish Whiskey Society turned up in numbers to give the casks a good send off. John Teeling of Cooley was very supportive. In addition, we had local individuals like Joe Cleary with his vintage Leyland, Jimmy Murray with his Clydesdale, Carina O'Donovan and her riders volunteering tremendous time and effort. Many thanks to all.

A bottle of Grand Crew (or a promise of same) was presented to the 10th annual AXA/AON Annual Across Ireland run (Irelands largest & Longest motorcycle event of its kind) from Dublin to Galway when it passed through Kilbeggan. The bottle was auctioned for €280 at their charity auction last night.

I'd appreciate if people would send me additional photos for use on the Grand Crew site - send to pics[at]iwai.ie
Its obvious that we're missing some specific photogenic events, e.g. Brian Quinn sealing the casks, casks being rolled off the cart etc.

Michael.

[petr]

Hi guys,

here is a small selection of pictures from yesterday for enyone who missed it.

[petr]

a few more...

[petr]

...and more...

[petr]

..and last one.

[petr]

I'm sorry that the pictures are not in order, but the uploading system is kind of tricky. I will do better next time.

[PureDrop]

Lovely photos Petr. I've snaffled a few of them for the Grand Crew gallery - I'll hopefully credit the photos tomorrow. I'm delighted you stayed around for so long and got some excellent pictures.
Michael

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Here are a few of mine

If anybody wants copies just let me know

[Willie JJ]

Excellent photos guys. Looks like a great fun day. Wish I could have been there.

[PureDrop]

article in The Westmeath Independent:
http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2009/09/02/390832-kilbeggan-whiskey-travels-again-by-canal/

and our "Grand Crew" has sent Mr. Paul Martin into reverie ...
http://heritageboatassociation.ie/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=236&Itemid=35
/M

[PureDrop]

The barge 107B left Ballycommon on Saturday ... under 1 horse power
http://heritageboatassociation.ie/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=241&Itemid=43
/M

[Cosmic....]

hi all,

i have been distracted from the society for a while so i am playing catch up here, apologies if i ask silly questions!

firstly i would like to say a huge well done to everyone involved the whole project looks great!

I have been trying to work out how I get my greedy little hands on a bottle, or if possible one of each cask!

can someone let me know on here how this will be done for IWS members, I appreciate the difficulties in allocations etc, but all i care about is how I personally as a member go about getting one! I know this sounds a bit greedy, but just a bit confused by it all at the minute and would be a bit disappointed if i missed out!

thanks again for the hard work that has gone into this at every level and thanks in advance for the answers....

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

hi all,

I have been trying to work out how I get my greedy little hands on a bottle, or if possible one of each cask!

can someone let me know on here how this will be done for IWS members, I appreciate the difficulties in allocations etc, but all i care about is how I personally as a member go about getting one! I know this sounds a bit greedy, but just a bit confused by it all at the minute and would be a bit disappointed if i missed out!

thanks again for the hard work that has gone into this at every level and thanks in advance for the answers....

It will be subject of a tasting on 1st Oct and you can let Leo know your desire at the ttasting.

If you can't make the tasting PM TheWhiskeyBro.

There really should be a mail sent out to all members asking for their requests but I don't know if that has been done.