100 year old Shackleton Whisky at South Pole

I want a drink!!!!!!!!

Crates of Scotch whisky and brandy have been recovered from the ice under the Antarctic hut where Ernest Shackleton stayed.

The crates of whisky found in Shackleton's hut. Photo: Antarctic Heritage Trust

They were retrieved more than 100 years after being buried there by the legendary polar explorer.

Although some of the bottles had cracked because of the ice, the team who found them - restorers working on the hut - said they were sure the crates contained intact bottles "given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved".

The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust team had expected to find two cases of McKinlay and Co whisky but were amazed to find five.

"The unexpected find of the brandy crates, one labelled Chas. Mackinlay & Co and the other labelled The Hunter Valley Distillery Limited Allandale (Australia) are a real bonus," said team leader Al Fastier.

The crates were originally found 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.

Whyte & Mackay, which owns the McKinlay brand and supplied the whisky for Shackleton, launched the bid to recover the bottles for samples to test and decide whether to relaunch the defunct spirit.

The drinks group's master blender Richard Paterson 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 in a statement.

"Given the original recipe no longer exists, this may open a door into history."

Shackleton's expedition ran short of supplies on its long ski trek to the South Pole from the northern Antarctic coast in 1907-1909 and turned back about 100 miles short of its goal.

They sailed away in 1909 as winter ice formed, leaving behind some of their equipment - and the whisky and brandy.