By James Atkinson
Limited amounts have arrived in Australia of a rare malt whisky recreated from the original bottles that lay buried for a century under explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s hut in Antarctica.
The whisky’s arrival coincides with the release of Australian Adventurer of the Year Tim Jarvis’s book and documentary ‘Shackleton’s Epic…Recreating the World’s Greatest Journey of Survival’.
The gruelling British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909 brought Shackleton and his team to the edge of starvation before they eventually fell short of their ultimate goal by less than 100 miles. They left behind several crates of Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt, buried in the icy darkness beneath the hut at Cape Royds.
In February 2007, after a century entombed in thick ice, three crates of Shackleton's whisky were uncovered. Three of the bottles made an historic journey home to the Highlands of Scotland to reach the hands of Richard Paterson, Whyte & Mackay’s master blender. Alongside his expert team, Paterson embarked on a new adventure in the Shackleton story – faithfully re-creating this famous whisky.
“The bottles recovered from the bitter Antarctic ice were carefully thawed and meticulously analysed to ensure our recreation of Shackleton’s whisky perfectly resembled the original malt from 1907,” Paterson said.
The bottle and packaging has been faithfully recreated in the style of Shackleton’s original whisky. Bubbles in the glass make each bottle unique, while hand-lettering and labelling techniques from the early 20th century provide whisky lovers with a truly authentic re-creation of the whisky once enjoyed by Shackleton and his intrepid team.
Distributed in Australia by Think Spirits, Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt (47.3 per cent ABV) is available in Dan Murphy’s priced at $200 for 750mL.