Frost, wind and southern seas combine to create a unique single malt: an experiment that takes whisky to the ends of the earth.
The news
While the world watches with growing concern as glaciers melt and global warming takes its toll, some have decided to look at the frozen continent from a different perspective: turning it into the setting for a unique experiment. In 2022, Daniel Monk, founder of Cask World, together with the La Alazana distillery, launched an unprecedented project: the first whisky aged in the Antarctic ice, as reported by thewhiskeywash.com in a special feature. ‘For the first time, enthusiasts will be able to enjoy a single malt that carries with it the maritime terroir of Antarctica – clean air, extreme climate, fierce winds and freezing temperatures’, explains the Cask World website. The result is Isla Marambio, an eight-year-old single malt that completes the Eight Continent Series, a collection of whiskies from the seven continents, now enriched by the “eighth” and most remote: Antarctica.
Its journey is fascinating: the first five years of maturation take place in virgin oak barrels at the La Alazana distillery in the province of Chubut, Patagonia. The whisky is then transferred to ex-bourbon barrels and taken to the Marambio Research Base on Seymour Island, where it remains for another three years of ageing at temperatures ranging from -35°C to +10°C. The project was made possible thanks to the support of the Argentine Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, which provided a Lockheed C-130 Hercules to transport the barrels to the Antarctic base. The extreme conditions make the ageing process something never seen before: the frost that forms on the barrels promotes the extraction and oxidation of the distillate, minimising evaporation and preserving the structure of the ethanol. ‘We already know it's different. When I was decanting it, I noticed a very distinctive floral note, more intense than usual in our whiskies,’ Lila Serenelli, co-founder and distiller at La Alazana, told The Whisk(e)y Wash.
"They are pioneers who, like me, believe in doing something that has never been done before. I was in their garden in Argentina when I suggested ageing whisky in Antarctica: they didn't hesitate," recalled Monk, speaking of his Argentine partners. An experiment that combines adventure, technique and curiosity, and promises to win over whisky lovers around the world with the unique flavour of a spirit born among the ice.
