Shackleton's whisky reclaimed from ice

New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust team leader Al Fastier says he believes some bottles are still intact.

The whisky was made by McKinlay and Co, and drinks group Whyte & Mackay has asked for a sample to carry out tests with a view to re-launching the defunct brand.

Ice cracked some of the bottles that had been left there in 1909, but the restorers said yesterday they were confident the five crates contained intact bottles "given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved".

Mr Fastier said the team thought there were two whisky and brandy crates and were amazed to find five. Restoration workers found the crates under the hut's floorboards in 2006, but they were too deeply embedded in ice to be dislodged.

The New Zealanders agreed to drill the ice to try to retrieve some bottles, although the rest must stay under conservation guidelines agreed to by 12 Antarctic Treaty nations.

Richard Paterson, master blender at Whyte and Mackay, whose company supplied the McKinlay's whisky for Shackleton, described the find as "a gift from the heavens for whisky lovers".

"If the contents can be confirmed, safely extracted and analysed, the original blend may be able to be replicated," he said yesterday.

Shackleton's expedition ran short of provisions on its long ski trek to the South Pole from the northern Antarctic coast in 1907/09 and turned back about 100 miles short of its goal, leaving supplies behind.