Whyte & Mackay launch Mackinlay’s “Shackleton” whisky in NYC
Categories: Whiskey history
103 YEARS IS apparently just the right amount of time to attract an adventurous crowd. That’s how long it took for adventurer Earnest Shackleton‘s whisky stash to travel from Antarctica to the Explorer’s Club in Manhattan. On November 10, an appreciative capacity crowd attended the launch of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky, a meticulous modern recreation of a Scotch whisky left behind by Shackleton and his team in 1908 and rediscovered, frozen in the tundra, in 2007.
Shackleton, a British explorer, is perhaps best known for his failed 1914 attempt at a Trans-Antarctic expedition which resulted in his and 27 others being stranded for over a year (and eventually rescued) on isolated Elephant Island. Prior to this journey, however, Shackleton and a smaller crew very nearly became the first men to reach the South Pole. From a small base camp at Cape Royds, he and three others (including fellow adventurer and noted whisky drinker Frank Wild) set out, only to be thwarted by the weather and a lack of supplies two months later, 100 miles from the pole. They returned alive, with scant hours remaining before his ship, the Nimrod, departed for the winter. Anything that didn’t need to be carried out was left in the base camp, a permafrost-protected museum to early exploration.
In 2007, a restoration crew from New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust Foundation was working on Shackleton’s hut when they stumbled across a stash of three cases of Scotch whisky (along with two cases of brandy) beneath the floorboards. After a careful thawing and curation (featured in National Geographic’s new documentary “Expedition Whisky”), it was decided that the whisky could be sampled (i.e. drunk) and recreated. While most of the original bottles remain untouched in New Zealand’s Canterbury museum, three were pulled to sample and test extensively, with the goal of replicating the recipe.
The 100-year-old paper labels read “Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky, blended and bottled by Chas. Mackinlay & Co.” and “Specially Prepared for the British Antarctic Expedition 1907 Ship ‘Endurance’.” The distillery closed in the 1980s, and the Mackinlay brand eventually acquired by Whyte & Mackay, which produces The Dalmore and Jura whiskies, among others. It turned out billionaire owner Vijay Mallya was happy to participate in reconstructing the historic spirit. The Dalmore’s master blender Richard “the Nose” Paterson was brought on board to create the blend. The final result is a “new” Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky crafted from 25 modern whiskies (including a small sample of the last of the Mackinlay batches from 1980).
“Going into those Antarctica buildings, it feels like everyone just left yesterday,” Paul East, chairman of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, told the Explorer’s Club crowd. “And no, we didn’t just take the whisky out and drink it.”
When the decision was made to recreate the whisky, and questions of brand ownership and bringing on the right distiller arose, “I thought it was rather a long straw,” said East. “But it turned out Whyte & Makay were very excited about it. We were very fortunate that Richard was willing to take this on.”
For his part Paterson is still visibly excited by this opportunity, some six years in the making. “Tonight is about a journey, and about two very brave men: Ernest Shackleton and Frank Wild,” Paterson told the crowd. Wild is thought by some to be the man who stashed the whisky, perhaps so it wouldn’t be consumed by the base camp crew while the South Pole party was away. “I’d like to think that, during those hard events in the Antarctic, the whisky lifted their spirits.”
Paterson, who says he was first introduced to the brown spirit at age 8 (whose father and grandfather were in the whisky trade), considers the opportunity of being the first to nose, taste and recreate the 19th-century whisky an honor. Because they’ve been kept on ice for over a century, the bottles are unique in terms of storage and preservation.
“I’m here to tell you that, at 47.3% alcohol, this whisky did not freeze,” insists Paterson. “It’s been under the ice for 103 years, but if you put ice in it tonight, I’ll kill you.”
The new Mackinlay does not, sadly, include any of the original spirit, but Paterson carries a small vial which he shows off. He says the nose and palate are identical, though the color of the new blend is darker, in part due to the use of older whiskies. “I took 25 to 30 whiskies, and put it together. So there are 10-year and 30-year whiskies in there.” In analyzing the whisky, he found elements of both Speyside and Highland styles, a hint of new oak along with used barrels for the aging, and the slightest trace of peat. The bottle design and labeling are accurate historic recreations (minus obligatory 21st-century legalese).
On the nose, the Mackinlay’s Rare Old is aromatic and floral, with notions of the barrel’s brown sugar and vanilla. It is delicate and fruit driven. On the mouth (neat), the feel is brisk, clean and smooth with a mild cigar bite at the end. There are refreshing notes of spice, vanilla and mild bitter orange. Paterson’s opinions about iced Scotch notwithstanding, adding a splash of water doesn’t seem to open this delicate whisky up much more, and it seems best drunk neat.
The timing of the release is significant to the Shackleton story. In addition to the new National Geographic feature, granddaughter Alexandra Shackleton is scheduled to transport Frank Wild’s ashes to South Georgia island (significant to the 1914 rescue) on Nov 17, and inter them alongside Ernest’s remains (he died there during a final mapping expedition in 1921).
For Paterson, the history and context of the whisky is as important as its taste: “I want you to drink this with thoughts of the wind and the rain and the sound of angry penguins. Slainte!”
Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky is available at DrinkUpNY.com for about $180. The limited edition run (50,000 bottles were produced) is packaged in a miniature recreation of the wood crate and straw packaging used to ship the original bottles to the Antarctic. A wider release is expected this month.
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