Reflecting the modern awareness of archeology to respect and preserve, three bottles of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Malt Whisky, that once belonged to the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, have been returned to their original home beneath the dusty floorboards of the Shackleton’s hut on chilly Ross Island in Antarctica.
The three unopened bottles, first sealed shut in 1898, were flow from Scotland, where in 2011 a small sample of their content was carefully drawn out via a syringe and analyzed.
Mackinlay’s Master Blender Richard Paterson, after long months of painstaking work in Scotland, recreated the forgotten whisky.
The initial 50,000 boxed offering of his reproduction sold out almost immediately at $150 per bottle. Five percent of the purchase price benefited the Antarctic Heritage Trust, generating over$400,000!
Hearing the cry of whisky lovers worldwide, who were unable to obtain a bottle, Whyte & Mackay has now released a second whisky inspired by the rare Shackleton find.
Labeled The Journey, it, too, is a blend of different malts that replicates the original. And once again, a percentage of the profits will be donated to the Antarctic Heritage Trust.
But the story doesn’t end there. Random House New Zealand is now publishing a new eBook that documents the whisky’s amazing travels from the Highlands to the Arctic ice and back again.
Entitled Shackleton's Whisky: A Spirit of Discovery: Ernest Shackleton's 1907 Antarctic Expedition, and the Rare Malt Whisky He Left Behind, it is easily available to readers everywhere via Kindle.
So sit back and enjoy. For where else can you hold a historic whisky in one hand and a modern digital reader in the other and know they truly belong together.
Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013