Mackinlay's Shackleton Rare Old Highland Malt

I have had this bottle for years, and i finally decided it was about time i open a piece of whisky history.  The Mackinlay Shackleton Rare Old Highland Malt, is a recreation of a bottle that was under the antartic ice for 100 years. Yes, the history you are about to read is a fascinating one. Back in 1907, the British explorer Ernest Shackleton started an expedition to reach the south pole, but he needed a little whisky to achieve his goals. His favorite whisky, was this Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt, and he got 12 cases for the journey. When he got to Antartica, he tried to reach the south pole in very difficult weather conditions, his horses died; the dogs he took to the continent were useless since no one on the crew knew how to train them; various crew members also died including the doctor of the expedition; And Shackleton did not reach his goal of the south pole, but still manage to beat his rival to be the first Englishman to be as south of the Earth as possible. In previous days, Shackleton had a Cabin near the ship (The "Nimrod" was the name of the ship, but he was originally going to travel on the "Endurance", that is why the bottles say "Endurance Ship"), where he hid the whisky from the rest of the crew. When the bad weather struck, he had to flee back to the ship, because the ocean would freeze but he left most of his belongings on the cabin, INCLUIDING THE WHISKY. This is the first part of the story. ONE HUNDRED YEARS PASSED, (2007) and the New Zealand antartic expedition found the cabin, AND FOUND THE WHISKY. 11 bottles were recovered after an incredibly effort not to destroy them, and they were taken back to New Zealands museum of Antartica. Whyte & Mackay Former owner, bought 3 bottles for a small fortune and asked his Rockstar Master Distiller Richard Patterson to recreate the whisky. Patterson, with the help of scientists, decoded the blended malt, its flavors and aromas. It took 3 years to do so, and you can actually download a pdf of the chemical study of the malt. In 2010, Whyte and Mackay released thr recreation of Mackinlay's Shackleton Rare Old Highland Malt, with the bottle looking exactly as it did in 1907, with the same flavors and aromas that originally were in the bottles. Orkney peat, some very old Dalmores and whisky from a mothballed distillery called Glen Mhor (closed in 1983 and demolished in 1989) were part of this first recreation called "the Discovery" (there is a second released called "the Journey). Fantastic videos of this whisky, lots of parafernalia comes in the crate, which was also recreated, and even a 44 minutes documentary in NatGeo makes this whisky a very special one. A part of history. HAVING SAID ALL THAT, LETS TALK ABOUT THE WHISKY ITSELF. This is a blended malt, bottled at 47.3%abv, burnished gold color. On the nose, very nice peaty aromas, very "highlandparkish". Heathery peat, red apples, honey, mint, iodine, wet grass, dry mud. After a first sip, it became very citric, with lemon, caramel, lemon zest, almonds, lemon pie, sown land. A couple of minutes more on the glass revealed a very fancy hay/vanilla note, oranges and leather.  On the palate, it feels just right. Starts with cough syrup, then a pepper bomb, some lemon and lime, very sulphuric. The second sip gave me vanilla cake, prunes and again that spicy pepper bomb. Salty Crackers.  Aftertaste is wonderful. A puff of pleasant smoke right away, then a strong chilli note. It becomes very dry and salty. Woody, barley, yeasty. Very yeasty actually, it gave me the impression that it had a "beer-like" property. Overall this is a great whisky with the most amazing story ever told. All the items that comes with the great looking bottle which has been recreated with the crate, it is jist amazing stuff. My feeling when tasting it, is that you can actually go into the past and taste how whiskies were back in 1907, very cereal and yeasty, and of course smokey. It left me the impression that if i made a homebrew whisky it might be similar to this one, due to the beer-like profile, but all those notes were fancy-crafted, like Patterson's team took a lot of effort in doing something simple and great. My score system gave me a 92 over 100 for this jewel, but due to its background and historic relevance, i am giving 2 extra points for a total of 94. Great experience, this is what whisky is about. Slàinte Mhath!

There is a saying that it's better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. I can't really judge how successful of an imitation this having not tried the whisky it's copying but what I can say that I'd prefer an original blend from Compass box (ok maybe not Asyla which was a waste of my liver). Now it's not terrible it's just not great and at $120USD a bottle you want something other than a lovely story. Compass Box spice tree is half the price and has an original story and better outcome. Slight oily sweetness, slight peat and it all integrates quite nicely albeit a very short finish a 3.5 rating on a good day. I'd say factoring in price and judging on soley on taste not the art of recreation I'd give it a 3 but I'll add 1/2 a point back for the artistic side. If you love a good story, appreciate the art of blending and use $20 US notes as papers for your roll your own cigarettes this one is right up your alley. Otherwise if you are like me and just want a great tasting whisky where the price is in alignment with the outcome it delivers you aren't missing anything if you don't get to try

Nose: Very sharp and stays that way quite a long time. Delicate fruits with vibrant and very dry oak and ginger. Fruits turn into berries with a fresh, salty air breeze on the back. Taste: Dryness is strong again, with some sugary notes. Dry and bitter lingonberries along with sweet marmalade and cinnamon. Wee smoke in the background... Finish: Remains dry and sweet. Bit of spices as well but the finish is way too quick. Balance: Little bit of complexity and some lack of aftertaste. Surprisingly good, having some character even though it's a vatted malt of 10 different distilleries. A whisky journey with force, even for skeptics.

Actually it is a blend of several malts across Scotland, matched together to come as close as possible as the original. This became possible after the distillery was able to keep of of the original bottles, found in the south pole. Reverse engineering. Or blending. By the way, it's easy to identify each one of the malts, such Glenfarclas, Jura, and others.

So uniquely interesting that I'd drink it no matter how it tasted. That said, it's pretty damn good. Lighter than you'd expect, with some subtle peat. Definitely worth a taste if you like interesting booze.

A very good blended Scotch. There are better ones available at a lower price point, but this is such a great story and with the additional packaging, makes a great gift.