A century-old whisky comes to life again!

Readers may remember that, back in November 2009, I mentioned that an attempt was to be made to recover some cases of Scotch whisky taken to Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton in the first decade of the 20th century. In February the following year, I was pleased to report that the attempt had succeeded, and several bottles of Mackinlay's whisky had been recovered intact.

It's just been announced that the recovered whisky has been reproduced using modern spirits, after being exhaustively analyzed. Popular Science reports:

Dr. James Pryde, chief chemist at Whyte and Mackay, subjected the samples to a comprehensive chemical analysis, in conjunction with a rigorous sensory analysis (that is, sniffing and tasting). Firstly, it was established that the alcoholic strength of the whisky was high enough that it very likely never froze over the years it spent interred in Antarctica. In winter, the hut reached a minimum temperature of -32.5°C, but, at 47 percent alcohol, the whisky remained liquid down to a couple of degrees cooler than that extreme. This eliminated what had been a significant source of concern about the quality of the sample, that decades of freezing and thawing had altered or ruined it. Carbon dating verified that the whisky did indeed date from the Shackleton era.

First sample drawn from the Shackleton whisky cache. Rather than uncork the bottles,
the samples were drawn using a syringe and needle, penetrating through the corks.

Phenol and related phenolic compounds show up in Scotch whiskies, giving them the unmistakable character that's referred to "peaty," because the flavor is introduced when the grain is exposed to peat smoke during the malting process. Chemical analysis revealed not only the quantity of phenolics in the Mackinlay -- surprisingly low, given that era's reputation for heavily peated malts -- but also the particular balance of compounds, which enabled the experts to pinpoint what region the peat used had likely come from. The answer? Orkney.

Similarly, analysis of the compounds that result from barrel-aging was able to finger the barrels in which the whisky was aged as ones made from American oak and probably used once before to age wine or sherry. Gas chromatograph olfactometry, in which the spirit is broken down into its volatile components and each of these smelled individually by experts, gave clues as to details of the fermentation and distilling process.

Armed with all this detail, Whyte and Mackay's master distiller, Richard Paterson, was able to delve into the wealth of warehoused casks and, with the help of his prodigious nose, blend a number of whiskies in exact proportions to replicate the Shackleton spirit.

There's more at the link. The (highly technical) report of how the whisky was analyzed and duplicated may be read here (link is to an Adobe Acrobat document in .PDF format). The photograph above was taken from this report. You can also learn more about the project, and about Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky (the modern whisky produced to copy the original) at a special Web site set up to provide more information.

I think I'm going to have to pick up a bottle of the stuff, just on principle . . .

Peter