After staring at it for years I finally cracked open a non-signed bottle just a couple months back to celebrate a major life event. Here are the notes from my journal:
Distiller: Mackinlay
Product: Shackleton’s
Bottle: Discovery Edition
Category: Islay
Aged: -
Nose: Honey, wheat, figs, and just a hint of peat smoke.
Body: Olive oil coated peaches drizzled in caramel and honey. A bit of tobacco leaf and black pepper the longer it sits. Starts smooth as silk and sharpens dramatically.
Finish: Vanilla, marshmallow nougat, toasted oak and just a bit more tobacco.
Activation: Trades the sweet caramel for a sour citrus, full of tangerines and key limes. Overall a poor trade.
Notes: This is the big one. The story of Ernest Shackleton and his whisky has been told several times over, so I won’t recount it all here. Suffice to say that the Discovery Edition is the definitive work of art, fresh from mass spectroscopy with a tiny dilution of the salvaged malt inside. It’s a bottle that has high sentimental value to me and thus I waited years for an occasion worthy of opening the ornate wooden case. It is at once every I wanted and something of a surprise. It is subtle but firm, peated but delicate, complex but straightforward. The legend is larger than life but the whisky is honest and workmanlike. This dram is truly worth exploring and celebrating.