Hello Fellow WhiskeyLovers – 

I hope you all had a wonderful day of festivities celebrating the Celtic holiday Beltane this past weekend (who was paying attention to last weeks email?), and that this Hump-Day finds you already pondering this weekends mischief. 

As you may recall about a year ago I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with my now good friend Ben Ellefson, one of the fantastic chaps who run MasterofMalt, the “other winner” of the Whisky Magazine Icons of Whisky award Online Retailer in the UK. We spent most of the afternoon talking and wrangling and passionately negotiating…and finally shaking strong hands on a way we all could work together on our Whiskey Explorers club. 

In celebration of our coming to terms, Ben excused himself from the room we were meeting in for a few moments, then returned with a wooden box, and a smile on his face that threatened to crack his head wide open if it got any wider. 

He placed the box on the table, then opened it to reveal what appeared to be shredded packing paper, and a very old looking bottle… 

YIKES….THIS WAS IT!!! I’d heard about this…on the news…everywhere. But here it was in front of me…and Ben was opening the bottle for me to have a dram…. 

In 2006 a team from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust was restoring the hut used by Ernest Shackleton during his 1907-1909 South Pole expedition. The expedition came to an abrupt halt when, due to rather unpleasant conditions and the onset of winter, the Shackleton team was forced to hurriedly abandon the expedition…leaving behind many of their possessions thought to be unnecessary for the return journey. 

The restoration team discovered several cases of spirits lodged in ice under the hut. Three of these cases were found to contain Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky, but they could not immediately dislodge them because they were too deeply embedded in the ice. So Whyte & Mackay, who now own the Mackinlay’s brand, launched a bid to recover the whisky for samples to test, and potentially use to relaunch the once popular Mackinlay’s Scotch whisky brand. 

In 2010 the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust used special cutting tools to carefully remove the cases of spirits from the ice. Then in January 2011 three bottles of the Mackinlay’s “Shackelton” whisky were returned to Whyte & Mackay for analysis. 

The liquid was considered so rare and valuable that the Antarctic Heritage Trust and New Zealand authorities refused to let it travel to Scotland unaccompanied and in the hold of any plane. So Whyte & Mackay owner and renowned Indian business mogul Dr Vijay Mallya stepped in to personally collect and fly the bottles back to Scotland on his private jet. 

Whyte & Mackay’s master blender Richard Paterson then spent a painstaking eight weeks marrying and blending a range of malts to get an exact replica of this 100 year old rare taste of whisky history. Whyte & Mackay then the released exactly 50,000 bottles of the whiskey worldwide. 

Which brings me to this weeks Whisky Wednesday featured whiskey (and 2012 Drammie Award Winner for Best Packing Design: Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Whisky. 

The replica Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Malt is a blended malt containing whisky from a range of Highland malts, including Glen Mhor, which was the original Mackinlay’s distillery before it closed in 1983. It was bottled at 47.3% ABV, is non chill-filtered and has had no added caramel coloring. 

And it comes in the coolest replica bottle and wooden box.  

According to renowned whisky writer and independent expert Dave Broom, the only other person in the world to taste both the original whisky and Whyte & Mackay’s new liquid, Patterson got the copy exactly right. He said: “The Shackleton whisky is not what I expected at all, and not what anyone would have expected. It’s so light, so fresh, so delicate and still in one piece – it’s a gorgeous whisky.” 

And so, with the help of our man Nicky “The Neck” – himself no stranger to making “things disappear in the ice ” – we’re able to offer you the opportunity to acquire a limited quantity of Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky for $159.95/ bottle (limit 3 bottles per customer please). 

I urge you to move quickly on this if you are interested. This is a once in a lifetime chance to acquire a bottle of truly historic whiskey…but then hide it when you get it. Because once it’s gone… 

And until next week…have fun!

Doug StoneFounder

ForWhiskeyLovers.com