Scotch in the Antartic.

According to this article on Yahoo!  a couple of cases of McKinlay and Co. scotch whiskey have been entombed in ice in Antarctica underneath Sir Schackleton's hut for the last 100 years.  The beverage company Whyte & Mackay, which owns the rights to the McKinlay and Co. name, is mounting an expedition to retrieve some of these bottles in order to decide whether or not to relauch the brand.

Does this sound like a load of BS to anyone else? I'm pretty sure that this is the flimsiest excuse in history for launching an expedition to Antartica. Well maybe not the absolute flimsiest, but it's definetly in the top ten.  I'm pretty sure this was an idea that was hatched during a whiskey "tasting."


Actually, on closer inspection the idea is brilliant.  In 2006 workers restoring Sir Schackleton's hut discover the whiskey.  The executives and McKinlay and co see an opporutnity to revivie an old brand, give it a truely romatic image and make lots of moolah.   The trick of course is tie the brand to romatic images of Sir Shackleton and antartica.  Which is exactly what a modern day expedition to retrieve the bottles does.

Brilliant!