SHACKLETON’S WHISKY
In January 2010 conservators from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust found five wooden crates encased in ice under Shackleton’s 1908 Antarctic hut.
Three contained Mackinlay’s whisky and two contained brandy!!
The three whisky crates were excavated and one crate was flown to New Zealand to be carefully thawed by the Trust in a purpose-built environment and public gallery at Canterbury Museum.
Eleven bottles of the 114-year old whisky were revealed, still sheathed in their paper and straw packaging.
After delicate conservation, the then owner of Whyte & Mackay (which owns the Mackinlay brand), flew to New Zealand to see the extraordinary find.
Under permit from the New Zealand Government, he transported three bottles to Scotland on his private jet for scientific analysis by Whyte & Mackay and The Scotch Whisky Research Institute.
In a unique opportunity for the whisky world, the bottles were subjected to sensory and chemical analysis to establish the flavour and composition of a product manufactured a century earlier.
They found that the whisky’s strength was 47.3% alc/vol, that it contained peat from the Orkney Islands, and that it had been aged in American white oak sherry casks.
In April 2011, Whyte & Mackay’s master blender, Richard Paterson, successfully recreated an exact replica of the century-old whisky and Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky was born.
(Credit – adapted text and photo from: www.nzaht.org/pages/shackletons-whisky)