Whiskeydaddle Races

Whiskeydaddle describes the process of moving whiskey barrels from one location to another. It was coined in the 1840s when every distillery in Peoria employed a team of “whiskeydaddlers” who transported whiskey barrels to customers throughout the city.

The various distilleries were very proud of their whiskeydaddlers as they could be the difference between losing out on a sale – if your whiskeydaddlers stayed ahead of the competition, so did your company.

Each distillery had its own methods of hiring and training their whiskeydaddlers. While there were many methods of becoming a whiskeydaddler, there were four characteristics that every great one had in common: incredible strength, outstanding speed, impressive balance and awe-inspiring facial hair.