Northwestern and the University of Kentucky will take to the football field Friday to battle it out for a bottle of whiskey — and a Music City Bowl win.

Evanston’s Mayor Steve Hagerty and Lexington, Kentucky, Mayor Jim Gray made a ‘Wildcat Wager’ in early December on the outcome of the Music City Bowl, betting a bottle of each town’s best whiskey.

At stake is a bottle of Evanston’s FEW Spirits Bourbon Whiskey that Hagerty will send to Lexington if Kentucky wins, while Mayor Gray will be obligated to send a bottle of Lexington’s Town Branch Bourbon if NU emerges victorious.

“As much as I’d like to show Mayor Gray that one of the world’s best bourbons is distilled outside Kentucky, it will be a pleasure to toast Northwestern Football with some of the Bluegrass State’s finest after the ‘Cats crush UK,” Hagerty said in a news release on Wednesday.

Mayor Hagerty and Mayor Gray negotiated the ‘Wildcat Wager’ in a conference call Dec. 13.

“Everyone knows that Kentucky is the World’s Bourbon Capital, but I’m looking forward to enjoying some nice Illinois spirits from Mayor Hagerty when our Cats bring the trophy home to Lexington,” Gray said in the release.

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