Ernest Shackleton’s Whisky Replica

I always have, and will, advocate that whisky drinkers spend the necessary time to better understand their drinks in order to appreciate them more. This to me especially includes the details behind the whisky brands, production processes and history of its people and places. Within the last two years, no story has captured the historical interest more, in both whisky and non-whisky drinkers alike, than the tale of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s whisky cache.

In 1907 Shackleton and his tough-as-nails band of explorers set out on an expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole. Although they didn’t make it to the pole, they did come closer (within 100 miles) than anyone had previously done. Their last outpost on Ross Island near Antarctica, which they abandoned in March 1909, is controlled by the Antarctic Heritage Trust who in early 2007 made an incredible discovery while undertaking restorative work on Shackleton’s hut. Beneath the aging abode, clutched in the frozen claw-like grasp of the permafrost, lay three cases of Rare Old Highland malt whisky, blended and bottled by Chas. Mackinlay & Co.!

Fast forward to January this year, where after lengthy talks and much pleading, the trust agreed to temporary relinquish three bottles to the current owners of the Mackinlay brand, Whyte & Mackay (also owners of the Jura and Dalmore Scotch single malts) for the purposes of study and analysis. There, under the watchful eye of Richard Paterson, who is probably the best known whisky personality in the world, the 100+ year old whisky was meticulously extracted via syringe and analysed. Whether the original intention was to create a replica I doubt we’ll ever know, but within the subsequent months Richard and his Lloyd’s insured nose concocted a new whisky based on the results of the chemical analysis, nosing and tasting conducted in the Whyte & Mackay laboratories. The only other reported whisky personality to try the original is Dave Broom, the highly regarded and prolific whisky writer, whose response has served as an objective testimonial that the replica is indeed as close to the original as is humanly possible to reproduce.

The Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland malt whisky replica has been available in various parts of the world for several months already, but it isn’t until now that I’ve seen hard evidence South Africa has secured an allocation (although I was first tipped off my Mark Hughes, fellow SA whisky blogger at WTF.) Much to my delight, while paging through the Makro festive season whisky catalogue, I came across an entire page advertising the Shackleton replica. From “early November” 1200 bottles (from a total release of 50,000) will be available throughout South African Makro stores retailing at R1300.

Although not cheap, the local rand price is very much in line with international prices, and if anything is actually slightly cheaper. Having had the opportunity to taste the replica (review here) I don’t think the whisky itself is worth the cost, but when considering that it represents the previously-impossible opportunity to try a 100 year old style of whisky, and the authentic replica  packaging, the price just becomes acceptable.

For more detail on this tall, but true, tale, I recommend the NY Times article which provides a superb account of the historic expedition, Shackleton, and the replication process.