Lightly edited courtesy of FORBES magazine.
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It’s called sunken scotch. And it’s
practically a category unto itself: whisky rescued from the cargoes of a
wrecked ship, resting for untold periods of time below the tides. Every few
years tales of brown spirit raised from these depths grab headlines, while the liquor itself fetches
top dollar at auction. The latest example happens to be scotch salvaged from
perhaps the most famous shipwreck of the modern era. And it’s expected to earn
as much as $20,000 in an on-going auction now live, online.
The bottle in question was retrieved
from the wreck of the SS Politician. The ill-fated vessel ran aground
during WWII and was at the center of a national firestorm shortly thereafter.
On its way to the Jamaica, by way of Western Scotland, the cargo ship was
carrying some 28,000 cases of whisky when it foundered on rocks along the
rugged shoals of the Outer Hebrides.
After official attempts at salvage
had ceased, nearby islanders made their move on the coveted contents of the
Politician. Although the UK government viewed such actions as thievery, the
locals saw it quite differently. According to contemporaneous reports, a
widespread effort among the Hebridean communities was labeled a ‘whisky
rescue.’ This led to a protracted battle between the accused scallawags and tax
collectors from mainland Scotland and, eventually, London. Because no duty had
been paid on the whisky, members of HM Customs and Excise eventually went after
anyone proven to have lifted cargo from the ship.
One local in particular helped
immortalize these hijinks, attracting international attention. Compton
Mackenzie, of Barra island, sensationalized the circumstances as the background
for a novel called Whisky Galore. Published in 1947, it was adapted into
a fairly popular British comedy of the same name two years later. A remake
debuted at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2016.
But the bottle currently up for sale
at the Grand Whisky Auction house isn’t part of that
controversially recovered booty. It was raised by George Currie more than fifty
years later. The deep sea repairman was working on a subsea cable off the
Hebridean coast when he hit pay dirt. Along with a team of divers, they were
able to recover a VAT 69, Ballantine’s and four bottles of a now-defunct brand
known as Gibbey’s.
In 2013, a pair of similarly aged
whisky from the SS Politician sold together for £12,050.
What does that particular offering
taste like? Well that would be impossible to guess. There is no labeling of any
sort on the glass. You won’t even get a chance to know where it was made nor a
ballpark approximation of its age statement, let alone tasting notes.
Just remember: unlike wine, whisky doesn’t age in
the bottle. So the subsequent 80-odd years it has spent stored away undersea
does not accumulate as part of its overall age. If this whisky was distilled in
1930, for example, and then bottled before its notorious 1941 journey, it’s
still a 13-year-old expression.
 |
| wine from an earlier wreck |
Nonetheless, the liquid does wear a
beautiful burgundy color up beyond the shoulders of the bottle. An airtight wax
top and high fill-level suggest that there’s been little oxidation here. As a
result, a sip of this spirit is likely to be quite close to how it originally
tasted nearly 80 years ago.
If you’re on the fence about
purchasing, perhaps this will convince you to take the plunge: The lot comes
with a diving helmet, bricks from the actual SS Politician. and an
original movie poster for the 2016 Whisky Galore remake, which currently
holds a 44% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Hopefully the whisky aged better
than the film it helped inspire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, all you scotch fanciers: get onto the online auction and get your bid in! And, as the posting mentions, hopefully it will review better than the film did!
On a personal note, August marks the start of Maritime Maunder's seventh year and we celebrate (on 22 August) with one of our original posts (and possibly a wee dram!). We are amazed that we have accumulated over 111,000 readers! Thank you all!
Until next time,
Fair winds,
Old Salt
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