Museum thaws Shackleton’s scotch — but not for tasting

A CRATE of Scotch whisky that has been frozen in Antarctic ice for more than a century is being slowly thawed by New Zealand museum officials — for analysis, not to be tasted.

The crate of whisky was recovered earlier this year — along with four other crates containing whisky and brandy — beneath the floor of a hut built by Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton during his 1908 Antarctic expedition.

Four of the crates were left in the ice, but one labeled Mackinlay’s whisky was brought to the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island, where officials said yesterday it was being thawed in a controlled environment.