Vijay Mallya ‘hand-carries century old bottles of whisky to Glasgow’
January 15th, 2011 - 3:21 pm ICT by ANIWellington, Jan 15 (ANI): Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya jetted into Christchurch to hand-carry three bottles of whisky, left from British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 Antarctic expedition, to Glasgow.
The bottles of Mackinlay whisky were among three crates that remained of the expedition, and were found in ice under the floorboards of Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds on Ross Island near McMurdo Sound in 2007.
The bottles had been at the Canterbury Museum since August last year.
Mallya, 55, whose firm Whyte and Mackay took over the Mackinlay distillery, which produced the whisky more than a century ago, took the bottles under an agreement with the Christchurch-based Antarctic Heritage Trust.
He is taking the whisky back to Scotland to be scientifically analysed, and said it was a historic moment for the whisky industry.
“Never before has anyone had access to a bottle of whisky that’s more than a century old and, more importantly, spent more than 100 years in a natural freezer under extreme conditions,” Stuff.co.nz quoted him as saying.
Mallya flew to Christchurch to collect the whisky because he was reluctant to leave the bottle in a cargo hold.
“I decided to bring my private jet and pick it up myself and hand-carry it to Glasgow,” he said.
The original recipe had been lost, but the trust said an attempt might be made to replicate it after the analysis. (ANI)
- Century-old Scotch Extricated From Ice-covered Crate - Aug 15, 2010
- 100-year-old whisky to benefit Antarctic Heritage Trust - Apr 05, 2011
- Kiwi museum thawing 100-year-old whisky - Jul 22, 2010
- Three die when South Korean vessel catches fire near Antarctica - Jan 12, 2012
- New Zealand plane makes Antarctic rescue mission - Sep 14, 2010
- Indian trio in Scotland invent device to identify fake whisky - Nov 03, 2011
- Team to retrace Shackleton's Antarctica trek - Sep 14, 2011
- Force India test-driver Resta to have his own 'Whyte and Mackay' label - Jul 08, 2010
- Single-malt Scotch whisky named world's best - Oct 25, 2011
- Scotch whisky industry unaffected by recession - Jan 02, 2012
- Mallya firm to raise $300 mn to reduce debt - Sep 10, 2009
- China mulls Antarctic protection law - Feb 16, 2012
- 10-yr-old girls addicted to vodka-laced alcopop WKD, reveals poll - Feb 20, 2011
- Kiwi firm to make personal jet packs - Feb 25, 2010
- Spurious Scotch lands six in Goa jail - Oct 04, 2011
Tags: 100 years, canterbury museum, cape royds, christchurch, distillery, extreme conditions, floorboards, freezer, glasgow, heritage trust, liquor baron, old bottles, original recipe, private jet, ross island, scotland, sir ernest shackleton, wellington, whisky industry