shackleton

Priceless Shackleton's Whisky Uncrated. Will Not Be Sold.

Filed under: Spirits

A crate of Scotch whisky that was trapped in Antarctic ice for a century was finally opened August 13. It is perhaps the most sought after dram in the world right now.

But, according to officials of Whyte and Mackay, would-be bidders and tasters will be left wanting and dry-mouthed. Only the master blenders [and we're guessing top management] will be tasting it in order to try and replicate the recipe using today's whiskies.

The crate, recovered from the Antarctic hut of renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton after it was found there in 2006, has been thawed very slowly in recent weeks at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island.

The crate was painstakingly opened to reveal 11 bottles of Mackinlay's Scotch whisky, wrapped in paper and straw to protect them from the rigors of a rough trip to Antarctica for Shackleton's 1907 Nimrod expedition.

The crate was frozen solid when it was retrieved earlier this year. Antarctica's minus 22 Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius) temperature was not cold enough to freeze the liquor, dating from 1896 or 1897.

Once the whiskey samples have been extracted and sent to Whyte and Mackay, which purchased Mackinlay's distillery many years ago, the 11 bottles will be returned to Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds on Ross Island, near Antarctica's McMurdo Sound.

The whisky was labeled as a highland malt and the label also referred to Shackleton's ship Endurance, which he used in a 1914 expedition, and not the Nimrod on which he sailed in 1907.

It isn't known if the whisky is a single-malt or a blended malt. That will be part of the task of the chemists and blenders at Whyte and Mackay, which are believed to be drawing on experts outside the company's own talent. The hope is that the company will be able to replicate the taste for a special issue whisky expression in the future.

Tags: Shackleton, Shackleton whisky, whisky, whyte and mackay

Shackleton's Whisky Unearthed For Testing Not Tasting

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Last year I mentioned that a trove of spirits crates left by Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton under the floorboard of Shackleton's small wooden shack at Cape Royds in Antarctica had been unearthed. A crate of the Charles Mackinlay & Co. whisky has now been recovered and is being slowly thawed in New Zealand. Four crates were left in the ice and the one labeled Mackinlay's whisky is now at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island.

Handling 100-year-old whisky that has been subjected to such harsh conditions is no easy task. The crate has been carefully thawed in a controlled environment. Whyte & Mackay, the Scottish distillery that now owns the Mackinlay's brand, was behind the push to recover the whisky after it was discovered in 2006. It hopes to obtain for samples to test and potentially use to relaunch the defunct Scotch label. Although the whisky may be drinkable it will probably not be tasted. The museum has created a special website to keep the curious informed on the state of the project.

Tags: antarctica, charles mackinlay, shackleton, sir ernest shackleton, whisky, whyte and mackay

Polar Library Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

With global warming proceeding briskly along, a collected polar-themed library might be even more of a precious relic. On May 24 Swann Galleries in New York will auction off 160 items from the Polar Library of Dr. John M. Levinson, a past President of the Explorers Club, who has assembled an collection of works on Arctic and Antarctic exploration. One of the star lots in the auction is one of only 65 extant copies of the first book published in Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton's Aurora Australis, 1908. This copy of the book is known as the "Veal" copy because boards from a packing crate containing veal were used to create its cover. This book is inscribed to expedition member George Buckley and signed by Shackleton and others and estimated to sell for $50,000 to $75,000. Other lots include other books by Shackleton, a complete set of first editions of all three of James Cook's Voyages, in nine volumes, copies of The South Polar Times, the first Antarctic newspaper, edited by Shackleton, Louis Charles Bernacchi and Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Charles Swaine's rare Account of a Voyage of Discovery of a North-West Passage from 1748, a set of first editions of each of William E. Parry's four Voyages, and artifacts such as a message buoy used on the 1901-02 Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition to the North Pole via Franz Josef Land and silver and china from various expeditions.

Source

Tags: antarctica, arctic, book auction, explorers, polar library, PolarLibrary, rare books, shackleton