From The Ice Below Shackleton's Hut To Skilled Recreation:
This Is A Story To Savour In The Telling
46 Cases of Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt
In June 1907, the Glen Mhor distillery in Inverness received an order from the famous explorer Ernest Shackleton for a total of 46 cases of Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt – one of the more indulgent items included among the provisions designed to sustain his British Antarctic Expedition of 1907.
In February 2007, after almost a century entombed in thick ice beneath Shackleton's expedition hut in Antarctica, three crates of this long lost whisky were discovered by a team from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust. The team was carrying out a full programme of conservation work on the aging expedition hut at Cape Royds when they made their stunning discovery.
However, in line with
international protocols agreed by the Antarctic Treaty Nations, the crates
could not be removed from Antarctica unless it was for conservation or
scientific reasons. The Press Release of Friday 5 February '10 can be read
using this link.
In early 2010, one crate of the whisky was removed from the ice by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and flown directly back to Canterbury Museum for careful thawing and stabilisation. Eventually, this crate was returned – and became one of over 14,000 expedition artefacts which the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust cares for across this frozen continent.
Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt
The team of conservators were able to examine the contents and were eventually delighted to recover 11 bottles, 10 of which were perfectly
intact, still wrapped in protective paper and straw. Intriguingly, however, one bottle was missing; a fact that appeared consistent with the evidence which suggested that the crate had been forced open once upon a time. With the whisky finally freed from the frozen crate, the museum
conservators were able to complete their detailed analysis of the
packaging, labels and bottles. However, the global spotlight was
intensely focused on what these precious artefact bottles contain – a
Highland malt whisky that was already well over 100 years old.
Indeed, never before in the history of whisky experts had access to a
century old bottle of whisky that had been stored in a natural fridge
well beyond human reach. So it was arguably only a slight exaggeration
when this rare and valuable malt was described as ‘a gift from heaven
for whisky lovers’ by Richard Paterson, Master Blender at Whyte &
Mackay, the owners of the Mackinlay brand. And, with the bottles now
ice-free, plans were made to undertake an analysis of the whisky so that
it could be re-created in all its long-lost glory.
The Return Journey
In January 2011 three bottles of the Mackinlay’s whisky finally began their return journey to the Highlands of Scotland. The bottles were deemed so rare that the Antarctic Heritage Trust refused to let them travel unaccompanied or in the hold of a plane. So they were personally collected by Whyte & Mackay company owner, Dr Vijay Mallya, and flown back to Scotland onboard his private jet.
Arriving home in Scotland,
for the first time in more than 100 years, the whisky was transported to
W&M’s Invergordon Spirit Laboratory for detailed scientific analysis.
Richard Paterson, and his expert team led by Dr James Pryde, spent several
weeks in the laboratory nosing, tasting and deconstructing the whisky to reveal
its true heritage.
February 2011: Analysis
The analysis of the whisky
first determines its strength at 47.3% alc./vol. The team described the whisky
as light honey in colour, straw gold with shimmering highlights, and with an
aroma that is soft, elegant and refined on the nose. Indeed, detailed nosing
revealed delicate aromas of crushed apple, pear and fresh pineapple with notes
of oak shavings, smoke and hints of buttery vanilla, creamy caramel and nutmeg.
And, finally, the tasting revealed a spirit that has plenty of impact on the
palate; a tantalising array of flavours that is both harmonious and
exhilarating.
Analysis of the cask
extractives indicated that the spirit was matured in American white oak sherry
casks, while testing of the phenol content, which was lighter than expected for
a whisky of this period, revealed that the peat used for the malting originated
in the Orkney Islands.
Indeed, documentary
evidence supports this, recording the supply of peat to both Glen Mhor and Glen
Albyn distilleries in Inverness from the Isle of Eday in Orkney during the
early 1900s. Final examination of each bottle delivered almost identical spirit
profiles, suggesting that these far-travelled bottles may be representative of
all whisky made at Glen Mhor.
The Original Report
In 2010, an expedition was launched to recover three cases of Mackinlay’s Rare Highland Malt Whisky, buried under the Antarctic ice covering Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 expedition base camp. Three bottles were returned to Scotland, showing incredible preservation for their time spent frozen in the tundra. The corks and seals were in incredible shape, with all three bottles showing the same level in the bottle and a 47.2 %ABV. These historical whiskies were subjected to a battery of human sensory trials and chemical analysis.
While the sensory trials detected a lightly peated whisky by the panel, the chemical analysis found a 3.5 ppm phenol content in the whisky. Going one step further and leveraging the geographical peat profile research, it was determined that the peat was very likely sourced from Orkney, confirming the historical records that the peat was sourced from the Isle of Eday. Science confirms that at a time where heavily smoky whiskies were the norm, Mackinlay’s was bucking the trend and producing a lighter peated style of whisky in the early 1900s and the chemical analysis could confirm the unique profile of the peat used in the malting process.”
Obviously these rare and preserved bottles will be virtually impossible to replicate today. Yeasts have mutated, barley has been refined, stills are now steam-powered compared to direct fired, fermentation is now tightly controlled, cut points are now accurately measured compared to the manual stillman’s senses, and other various factors but you get the point. And given the rarity of the recovered whiskies, we are left with a good story but an inability to verify if this new blend even comes close to the original.
Mackinlay’s Shackleton Journey Edition 2023
With the launch of the Shackleton Epic Expedition, and continued correspondence with Shackleton's grand-daughter Alexandra and the Antarctic Heritage Trust, Richard Paterson was inspired to create a second edition of the Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt - The JOURNEY.
The Epic Expedition will attempt to replicate Shackleton's "Double": his journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia, a distance of 800 miles over sea and ice. This will be done with the same kinds of equipment used in the 1916 expedition, including the Alexandra Shackleton, a replica of the 23ft open lifeboat used on the original voyage.
The Journey Edition of Mackinlay's takes the same base of single malts used to create the original Discovery Edition and, still inspired by the original recipe, builds on them to create a noticeably different dram - a more elegant and refined interpretation.
Review: Mackinlay’s Shackleton, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, 2023, 40% ABV £25-35
Colour: Very pale, yellow gold.
Nose: Light honey, barley sugar, barley grist, hot grain dust, sawn oak, and a touch of green apple. It’s light and inoffensive and doesn’t have some of the annoying grain whisky prickle that can sometimes be found with other blended whiskies.
Palate: Runny honey, buttery biscuits, green and red apple medley and vanilla. The faintest whiff of smoke on the trailing half of the experience. A pop of citrusy lemon too. There is a dash of white pepper, which when combined with the citrus, comes across as a zestiness. There is a nice touch of sweet and sour interplay between the honey and lemon. Coming back to this whisky after a few others and some barely ripe bananas fleetingly pop up and then disappear. Interesting how our senses play little tricks like that on us. It does come across as somewhat young which is to be expected, but it is not overly jagged, a display of the quality of the malts heading into this blend and the blending prowess of the team. The mouthfeel is significantly better than most 40% ABV drams out there, with a lightly buttery or oily mouthfeel that exceeds the more watery mouthfeel of other entry single malts.
Finish: The finish is clean and short.
Overall: There isn’t much in the way of confirmation from various industry people that the new whisky, despite sharing a name, even somewhat resembles the original blend. They have obviously released the Shackleton at a lower ABV than the three bottles that were tested, missing the mark from a historical perspective. But despite the slight mishandling of the marketing and the whisky’s bottling strength, it’s still good and certainly worth buying at a deep discount.
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