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Thread: Shackleton's Whisky comes home after a century on ice.

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    Shackleton's Whisky comes home after a century on ice.

    Three bottles of whisky abandoned in the Antarctic ice by British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton more than a century ago returned home to Scotland on Monday.

    The bottles of Mackinlay's were part of a cache recovered last year from beneath Shackleton's Antarctic hut, built in 1908 as part of his failed attempt to reach the South Pole.

    They made it home Monday to Whyte and Mackay, the brand's owner, for analysis to see how they have fared after so long preserved in the polar chill.

    The wooden crate containing the whisky, marked British Antarctic Expedition 1907, was frozen solid in the minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures but the whisky in the bottles was still liquid.

    Two more crates of whisky, along with two of brandy, were also discovered but they were left under the floorboards of the hut.

    The whisky is believed to have been bottled in Scotland in 1896 or 1897, making it among the oldest in the world.

    Richard Paterson, Whyte and Mackay's master blender, said the analysis would be "for the benefit of the whisky industry".

    "Never in the history of our industry have we had a century-old bottle of whisky stored in a natural fridge and subjected to some of the harshest conditions on this planet," he said.

    "It is an absolute honour to be able to use my experience to analyse this amazing spirit."

    For the next six weeks, the whisky will be analysed, nosed, and tasted in full laboratory conditions.

    The Antarctic Heritage Trust shipped the crate to Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand, where it was painstakingly thawed in controlled conditions, allowing historians to get to the bottles inside.

    The bottles are so rare and valuable that Whyte and Mackay's owner Vijay Mallya personally collected them and flew them back to Scotland.

    "Shackleton made history with his travels and adventures, and I am sure we will make history ourselves when we unlock the marvels of these unique 100-year-old time capsules," he said.


    http://news.discovery.com/history/wh...mkcpgn=rssnws1

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  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    For the next six weeks, the whisky will be analysed, nosed, and tasted in full laboratory conditions.

  5. #4
    ephemeral excursionist blueeyes's Avatar
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    I wonder how much they value that whiskey at?
    Chere'




  6. #5
    If you haven't read "Endurance: Shackletons Incredible Voyage" yet I highly recommend it. After reading that book I concluded that I am puss--those were some tough dudes with some amazing skills.

  7. #6
    Very interesting story! Thanks for posting it, Don :).

    I don't like whisky, but I'd be really curious to know how it held up, taste-wise. I'm guessing since it wasn't aging in seasoned wooden caskets, its flavor probably isn't improved.

    Odd that they left 2 more cases and some brandy buried in the hut - they could have gotten some big bucks on eBay for all that !
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  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by agostinone View Post
    If you haven't read "Endurance: Shackletons Incredible Voyage" yet I highly recommend it. After reading that book I concluded that I am puss--those were some tough dudes with some amazing skills.
    x2

    One of my all time favorite books.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by canyonphile View Post
    I don't like whisky, but I'd be really curious to know how it held up, taste-wise. I'm guessing since it wasn't aging in seasoned wooden caskets, its flavor probably isn't improved.
    Whiskey typically only benefits from aging in wooden barrels for a certain amount of time. The longer, the more evaporates (called, "the angel's share"). Once its bottled, it might continue to age a bit depending on how well its sealed in the bottle. The aging process is subtle and pretty interesting.

    I have a bottle of Bushmills I'd be curious to know the date on (should email a photo of the bottle to the distiller). Got to be 30's or so. Haven't tried a taste. Found it in an old farmers dump when I was a kid. Held onto all these years...(yeah, packrat).

    Besides the classic "Endurance" by Alfred Lansing, Shakleton's own "South" is a good read especially given its from his perspective. The photo book by Caroline Alexander is fantastic too, considering the trouble they must have gone to saving the glass negatives (amazing, really). You can still buy prints made from the original slides.

    Its a heckuva story. They faired quite a bit better than the other half of their expedition (and the one you don't hear about). There were two boats, coming in from two different directions...

    Cheers!

    -Brian in SLC

  10. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian in SLC View Post
    Its a heckuva story. They faired quite a bit better than the other half of their expedition (and the one you don't hear about). There were two boats, coming in from two different directions...
    this is an amazing story. the book was called "the lost men". a must read for those who enjoy stories of arctic exploration.

    Meanwhile a second ship, the Aurora, would take a supporting party under Captain Aeneas Mackintosh to McMurdo Sound on the opposite side of the continent. This party would then lay supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier as far as the Beardmore Glacier, these depots holding the food and fuel that would enable Shackleton's party to complete their journey of 1,800 miles (2,900 km) across the continent.[69]
    But if I agreed with you, we would both be wrong.

  11. #10
    Content Provider Emeritus ratagonia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by canyonphile View Post
    Very interesting story! Thanks for posting it, Don :).

    I don't like whisky, but I'd be really curious to know how it held up, taste-wise. I'm guessing since it wasn't aging in seasoned wooden caskets, its flavor probably isn't improved.

    Odd that they left 2 more cases and some brandy buried in the hut - they could have gotten some big bucks on eBay for all that !
    They SAID they left 2 more cases... Tom

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