The Shannon Boat Rally is the premier event held on the River Shannon each year. It dates back to the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland’s campaign in the 1960s to prevent the closure of the Shannon Navigation by the then proposal to replace opening bridges with low-level fixed ones.  Today’s users of the waterways owe much to that original campaign and its first Rally held in 1961. The Rally features water-based competitions together with social & sports events. It culminates in a prize-giving ceremony where the “Premier Award” is presented to the winner of the Rally’s main on-water competitions.
 
Given that the top award on the Shannon Rally is the Premier Award, it seemed fitting that a suitable, quality, whiskey be selected to celebrate the 50th Rally. Following on from last year's "Grand Crew" whiskey, what better than a special one-off bottling: Locke’s "Premier Crew" whiskey?

Matured for 10 years at Kilbeggan, this superb single malt whiskey has been carefully selected by members of the Irish Whiskey Society to mark the occasion of the 50th Rally. It is a single malt whiskey and is bottled at 46% ABV (stronger than the more usual 40%). The whiskey is not chill-filtered so you get all of the flavour present in the cask.

Our tasters found that "It had big fruit on the nose, with some exotic lemongrass, candied caramel, and an interesting spiritiness reminiscent of floor polish, not unlike that found in some older pure pot still whiskeys. Definitely a rewarding nose. On the palate, the spiritiness transformed into a sugary sweetness, held in balance with grapefruit-like citrus, strong malt, and a herbal, almost menthol quality. It finished well, with hints of bitter chocolate, citrus peel and grain." 

In keeping with the standards required to achieve the Rally's Premier Award, this whiskey, drawn from a single cask, richly deserves the appellation Premier Crew.

The photograph on the front label is by Kevin Wickham and shows the fleet at Jamestown in 2009. The map on the reverse label is from a book "The Shannon and its Lakes" by R. Harvey, published in 1896 by Hodges, Figgis & Co.

See here for more information.