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One of Shackleton's whisky crates

Whisky hit the mainstream news headlines last year when a crate of 100 odd year old whisky was retrieved from an Antarctic hut abandoned in the early 1900’s by explorer Ernest Shackleton.  I’m not going to rehash the story – if you’re unfamiliar with the details you can read up on it further at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12202880 and elsewhere.  The whisky is Mackinlay’s: a brand owned by Whyte & Mackay, which was discontinued some time back.

There are two elements to this story which caught my attention in particular.  Firstly the whisky has been estimated to be worth US$69 000 per bottle on the open market.  Clearly not because of its intrinsics – at this time no-one even knows whether this is a blend, a blended malt, or a single malt.  Further whisky doesn’t mature in the bottle, so the age in terms of the liquid itself is at best irrelevant, at worst of detriment to quality.  As an aside I think it would have been considerably more interesting had Shackleton taken casks with him.  In typical conditions 100 years of wood would overpower a whisky, but who knows what cycles of freezing and thawing over that period would have accomplished.  Anyhow, throw in the risk of taint, musty aroma, and particulate from these corked bottles, and it becomes clear that the value comes from provenance and not product (drinkable though it may still be).  It thus absolutely amazes me that people would be prepared to spend this much for items that, to be frank, are of dubious historical significance; after all, heroic though Shackleton may have been, his missions failed to achieve their objectives.  And the bottles are not even particularly rare – there are some 35 of them in existence.   Perhaps then it’s for the best that this is all academic.  The Antarctic Preservation Trust has made it clear that they won’t be put on sale.

The second point of interest is that 3 bottles have been flown back to Scotland for analysis – by Whyte & Mackay Master Blender Richard Paterson, who was quoted as saying: “It is an absolute honour to be able to use my experience to analyse this amazing spirit for the benefit of the Trust and the whisky industry”.  Very noble.  Owner of Whyte & Mackay Vijay Mallya was more forthright: “to us it might well be a huge marketing opportunity”.  His plan is to use the results of the analysis to recreate the whisky’s recipe.  Personally I’m not sure what this window into the past can teach us about making better whisky.  Whisky-making is part-art, part-science, but the best of the art has been retained, refined, and passed on over generations, and the science has improved somewhat since Shacketon’s whisky was made.  Nonetheless, if there are any insights to be gained I welcome it.  Perhaps they’ll identify and be able to recreate a particularly appealing strain of barley.   My suspicion though is that this is about marketing pure and simple.  Given our fascination with the past, it’s a great angle to be able to offer whisky as it was drunk a century ago.  Unfortunately for Whyte & Mackay they’ve been beaten to the punch.  A few days ago Glenmorangie officially launched Finealta, a recreation of a 1900’s recipe found in the distillery’s archives.  If anyone’s tasted it I’d be interested to hear if history’s bounty justifies the hype.  Even better, if someone from Glenmorangie happens to read this, kudos and don’t hesitate to send me a bottle.

Glenmorangie Finealta

I’m a language purist.  You should know that about me.  Things like spelling, grammar, structure and fluency matter to me.  I say this despite the risk of being called anal retentive and of tripping up over my own performance (both of which do happen now and then).  This notwithstanding the crux of it is that language is beautiful, and like all beautiful things should be cherished.   Details can be important and laden with meaning.  Take the spelling of whisky.  Most of us probably know that there are two forms of the word: whisky, and whiskey.  Some of us may even know that whiskies are Scotch (and Canadian and Japanese) and whiskeys are Irish and American.  The why is less well-known.  I looked into this recently and it seems that whisky is the original spelling of the word, and at one time was used to denote all whiskies.  The “ey” spelling supposedly arose because the typical Scotch of the mid to late 19th century was of such poor quality that Irish producers wanted to make their product distinct.   Most American producers followed suit with some exceptions, such as Maker’s Mark and George Dickel, both of which are still called whisky to this day.  So we have a whole swathe of history and a striking insight into the development of an industry…all communicated by the addition of a letter.  In the modern era whisk(e)y production is proliferating all over the world.  There are serious producers all over Europe, in India, in Taiwan, in Australia, and of course right here in South Africa: the expression Highveld Malt has entered the lexicon.  To the best of my knowledge all these recent entrants seem to be using “whisky”, even those producing American-style products.  Does anyone know of any “new” producer that has chosen to use the form “whiskey”?

One last thing: the images shown above date from before the name change came into comprehensive effect in Ireland.

I’m taking the opportunity of this my first post to introduce myself and my motivation to blog on this subject.  I’m in my mid-30’s and looking back my partiality to whisky seems inevitable. I come from a community where whisky has almost exclusively been the drink of choice for generations.  Sure there was beer and wine, but my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles were largely oblivious of any spirit other than whisky.  I was pouring my father his evening Scotch before I could read, and the drink’s colour and rich aroma made a lasting impression.  In my teens many of the bands to which I listened seemed inspired by the muse of whisky (there was no doubt also a fair amount of abuse)…and so my fascination grew.  Songs such as Thin Lizzy’s “Whiskey in the Jar”, and the Doors’ “Whisky Bar” remain amongst my favourites.  Later I joined the industry, and since then I’ve had the opportunity to work in various capacities with some of the world’s most renowned whisky brands, and visit a few epic distilleries in the whisky father and motherlands (Ireland and Scotland, of course).  More recently I’m involved in the launch of an online shop specializing in whisky.  It’s called WHISKYdotcoza, located if I may state the obvious at www.whisky.co.za, and it should be up and running in the next 2 months.  On this blog though I look forward to sharing my experiences and thoughts on all things whisky and engaging with fellow enthusiasts, whisky novices, and indeed anyone interested in this golden nectar of the gods.  Thanks for visiting – and may the dram be with you!