The cases in this photo were found frozen solid under Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic hut, supplies left behind from his famous Nimrod expedition of 1907. The golden juice inside was beautifully preserved, unfrozen, at -22F for over a century.
This whisky is not available to buy (that I know of); only 11 bottles were found intact, but the current administration of the Mackinlay's distillery that originally made this Scotch has qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed it in the laboratory and on the palate and created a whisky that matches the characteristics of Shackleton's Scotch.
Through analysis it was determined that the peat was from the Orkney islands, the aging was in Sherry cask and that the blend was mostly Glen Mhor. Much to the surprise of the experts that expected a heavily peated smoky dram, more popular at the time, especially among manly men this whisky was more delicate and balanced with a lot of richness from the Sherry cask and a lighter feeling of peat smoke which was layered on with the addition of a little whisky from the nearby Dalmore distillery.
Anyway, this commemorative bottling IS available, details are below. It is an excellent Scotch, received raves from the spirit reviewers and would be an awesome Father's day gift for a Scotch and Ernest Shackleton fan.
Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky 94.6 Proof
92 Points - Malt Advocate, May 2011 "Rarely has a blend caused as much excitement as this one, but with good reason. This is also known as the Shackleton whisky, and is a recreation of the whisky abandoned in the Antarctic by explorer Ernest Shackleton more than 100 years ago. It has lemon, spring blossom, and wafts of smoke on the nose. The taste is full and citrusy, with peat and pepper in attendance. Beautifully balanced and outstanding, but there are just 50,000 bottles, so snap it up." -Dominic Roskrow
