Last year, five cases of 100-year-old Mackinlay whisky were discovered beneath the floorboards of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic hut. The temperatures there apparently keep it chilled, perfect conditions to store Whyte and Mackay’s now-forgotten malt.
Now three bottles have been flown out of the southern hemisphere and back to Scotland on the private jet of billionaire owner, Vijay Mallya. Once triumphantly home, a few precious drops of the whisky will be meticulously tested in an attempt to reverse-engineer the recipe. Then it will all be flown back to Anarctica and stuck back under the floorboards of the hut, to remain there forevermore.
And nobody is going to try any – not even a drop. Nope.
Not even a teensy-tiny little sip of the perfectly-preserved hundred-year-old long-lost vintage left beneath the floorboards of the hut of revered Antarctic explorer and hero Shackleton.
Certainly not once it’s in the hands of men who have devoted their lives to appreciating and understanding whisky. They are definitely just going to take a couple of scientific drops, reseal it right back up, and send the bottles back to Antarctica to be tucked back into the ice, as per the agreement.
I call bullshit: on the grounds of sheer implausibility, and also because I can’t help but think that if Shackleton were put in that situation, he might put that fearless maverick spirit to work sampling some of that ancient hooch. And if those men want to show their respects, they’ll do the same.
