Whisky for Penguins?

Antarctica. Perhaps not the first place you’d expect to find 100-year-old crates of Scotch. What with the freezing conditions, ice everywhere, and lack of vital infrastructure. And yet in 2006, there it was.

Because nearly a century earlier, legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton had left it there. On his 1907 journey to the Antarctic, he made sure to pack the essentials. Hat, coat and five crates of 15-year-old Mackinlay blend whisky. It sounds stupid, and somewhat alcoholic, but he had allegedly ordered it to keep morale high in the frozen uncharted wastelands. Why anyone would be feeling down in such a situation, I guess we’ll never know.

But anyone who’s heard of historical Antarctic expeditions knows they don’t typically go well. Just days before reaching the pole, Shackleton was forced to turn around when the weather took a turn for the worse. In a devastating display of his desperation, he left five crates of whisky behind.

And there they would’ve stayed, were it not for a team of Kiwi researchers, who found the whisky waiting patiently to be defrosted. They took the bottles back to New Zealand to study.

And despite what you may think, no it had not got better. Whisky doesn’t age once it gets out of the barrel because it must draw from the wood. What flavours would it draw from in the bottle? Glass?

Whisky conglomerate White and Mackay, the original owners of the defunct Mackinlay, were intrigued nonetheless. So much so, that they engaged in long negotiations with New Zealand’s government until they were allowed to charter a private plane to bring some of the priceless bottles back. Once in Scotland, their distillers carefully extracted the whisky with the use of a massive syringe normally used to inject horses.

They studied, examined, and replicated the whisky, eventually putting out a special limited-edition Shackleton Blended Malt, which sold out almost instantly. Ever the businessmen, they expanded it into a whole brand, and you can still buy Shackleton Whisky to this day.

Ernest Shackleton re-attempted the trip to Antarctica in 1914, failing for a second time after his ship was frozen and crushed by ice. They say he wanted to get to the South Pole. But we know why he really did it. He wanted his whisky back.

Introducing Whisky Trivia! To keep you on your toes, we’re going to be including mini-quizzes at the end of our articles from now on! We’ve thrown you a softball this time, but don’t get comfortable!