Preserved in ice for 100 years, the whisky Shackleton used to keep out the cold

[n2doc]

by PETER GILLMAN
Last updated at 22:00 03 March 2007


They say whisky matures with age...but leaving it embedded in the Antarctic ice for almost 100 years may be going a bit far.
Two cases of MacKinlay's Rare Old Whisky that Ernest Shackleton's team abandoned on their failed 1908 expedition to the South Pole have been uncovered intact.

The pine cases were discovered by a conservation team excavating ice from beneath the hut where Shackleton and his men sheltered from the long, savage winter. They showed almost no damage from the ice and the company's stag's head logo is clearly visible.
"It was a magic moment," said Al Fastier, the New Zealander managing the conservation programme at Cape Royds on Antarctica's Ross Island. "It's a very exciting find."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-439841/Preserved-ice-100-years-whisky-Shackleton-used-cold.html

[The Straight Story]

1. I'll drink to that! (nt)

[Arctic Dave]

2. Dats gonna be some expensive hooch.

[Kutjara]

4. They'll probably do the same thing they did with the "Whisky Galore!" scotch a few years back.

They added about three atoms of the original scotch to full bottles of modern whisky, and sold thousands of them in "commemorative" packaging, for about $200 a pop.

[Arctic Dave]

6. "Three atoms". LOL

Is that like saying they shared the same room for a week so they must be the same. Now give me $200.00 bucks

[Kutjara]

7. Pretty much. It was a total scam, but apparently sold very well...

...through "prestige" retailers like Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Bergdorfs and the like.

I think about 100 bottles of the actual stuff were held back and sold at auction for 50 septillion dollars each, but the rest went to the upper end of the "Franklin Mint" market as "collector's items" (aka shit for rubes).

[Arctic Dave]

8. ROFLMAO

[oldtime dfl_er]

3. Hard to believe they didn't just drink the stuff

or use it for fires, doesn't whiskey burn pretty well?

[The Straight Story]

5. Would be better to drink the whisky and die than to waste it on a fire

:rofl:

[petronius]

9. This wasn't the Endurance expedition - the 'failure' was just that they failed to

reach the pole, and left behind a hut and leftover suppplies when they departed Antarctica. I'd be willing to bet that the ship they sailed away on carried plenty of whiskey to get them back home...