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<p>WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica's ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whiskey that has been on the rocks since a century ago.</p> <p>The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whiskey that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.</p>

It is the era of designer drinks: bubblegum martinis, vodka essences, caffeinated schnapps. You name it. In spite of all their flair and fun, when you sit down to really enjoy a drink for the craftsmanship and complexity, you really only have a few good choices, and they were usually created over a decade ago. For years I had been a wine guy (not whinny, mind you). I took the classes, began to dig into certain vintages and the regions and vineyards around the world, and I developed a taste for the European wines, which tended to be drier and...

Didn't see this.

More than 20,000 people joined a march and rally in Kilmarnock in the latest step of a campaign to try and force the company to reconsider. Among those present were Alex Salmond, the First Minister, and Des Browne, the former Scottish Secretary, who said that the protest showed Diageo had "got it wrong". The firm has announced that it will close the plant in the town, which has been linked with Johnnie Walker since 1820, with the loss of 700 jobs. A further 200 jobs are to go with the closure of its distillery in Port Dundas, Glasgow, although 400...

Take a load off with one of these wonderful scotch whiskies. [1]Johnnie Walker Black Label Perfectly rounded, deep and full, this is the blended Scotch most admired by blenders. If I had to take only one whisky to a desert island, it would probably be this one. 40 per cent ABV [2]Lagavulin 16 Year Old The prince of the Islay malts, this is deep and dark, with notes of fruitcake and sweet seaweed. A voluptuous texture and a fragrant, smoky finish. For drinking with poetry, late into the night. 43 per cent ABV [3]The Glenrothes 1985 A big, rich Speyside,...

I need to suck-up to my boss. He is a scotch drinker. I know nothing about scotch. What can I purchase for him that will really impress him?

The Nova Scotia distillers of Glen Breton, Canada's only single malt, make its richly gold and aromatic whisky by mimicking the masters, copying every step of the process used in Scotland for centuries. Its homage to Scotch, however, has now been found to be too close for comfort. The tiny Glenora Distillery on Cape Breton Island, a Gaelic community with deep roots in Scotland, can no longer use the word "Glen" in its whisky's name because it misleads consumers into thinking they are drinking Scotch, according to a ruling released yesterday by the Federal Court of Canada. The ruling in...

NEW YORK - A bottle of 81-year-old Scotch sold for $54,000 at this New York's first liquor auction since Prohibition. An anonymous collector bought the pricey potable at Christie's sale of wines and spirits on Saturday. The 100-lot auction sold a total of $304,800 worth of rare wine and liquor. The top lot was a collection of 729 bottles of whisky, which went for $102,000. The $54,000 bottle was distilled at Macallan in Scotland in 1926, bottled in 1986 and rebottled in 2002. Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933, but New York State did not allow auctions of spirits until...

A Scottish whiskey manufacturer plans to reopen an Islay distillery that was put out of business 80 years ago by Prohibition in the United States. Executives at Bruichladdich, a private company that reopened another distillery on Islay in 2001, said their plan to bring the Port Charlotte distillery back to life is part of an effort to keep at least some Scotch-manufacturing in Scottish hands, The Scotsman reported. Seven of the eight distilleries now on Islay are foreign-owned. "The only Scottish one here is us. There are very few truly Scottish distilleries left now in the country," said Mark Reynier,...

On my way home from work, while listening to my favorite local Christian station, 89.7 WMCU "Spirit" FM... The DJ mentioned that today was Senator Edward Kennedy's birthday...74 years "young", I quote. I nearly hurled.

MIDI - IN THE AIR TONIGHT (0:35) If Mary Jo was breathing in our air tonight, she'd die If Mary Jo was breathing in our air tonight, she'd die If Mary Jo was breathing in our air tonight, she'd die...she'd die (1:14) Teddy Lifeguard sent out his letter...about the GOP ----- They've poisoned water and our air Just take a big breath, my friends, and you will see They have a right wing agenda, you should know Send money to me right away And I will spend some on Scotch...but the rest will be used To shut those guys...

Last bottle of world's oldest single malt whisky leaves Scotland Fri Feb 25,12:29 PM ET Offbeat - AFP LONDON (AFP) - The last remaining bottle of the world's oldest single malt whisky left its distillery in Scotland bound for Hong Kong, where it will be the star attraction at an airport shop. The bottle of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937, left to mature in a cask for 64 years before being bottled, is heading for Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok Airport, where it will be available for a well-heeled buyer, but only at a steep cost. Previous bottles sold direct by...

It gives new meaning to the phrase "lifting their spirits." The theft of a $3,200 bottle of Scotch whisky from the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa has resulted in a felony charge against a Pima County man. You heard right: That's one bottle of Scotch, costing about the same as 228 of the 20-bottle packs of Bud Light sold at your local Circle K. Pima County Sheriff's Department investigators said a resort employee at La Paloma was caught trying to steal a 50-year-old bottle of The Macallan Scotch, imported in a hand-cut crystal bottle. [snip] Even Tucson's tonier resorts...

I've been a Free Republic member since 1999. One of the many things I have observed in my time here is the many "fans" of scotch whisky here. I cannot recall the first time I had scotch, but I've only been drinking it "regularly" for less than 2 years. I definitely prefer the "single malt" scotches over the blended varieties. It is definitely an acquired taste, especially the more "peaty" varieties of scotch. But there is something very "wholesome" and unique about scotch. I just can't put my finger on it. It's one of life's pleasures that you don't have...

Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?" - Senator Ted Kennedy, 1973 - Ted Kennedy had a record of serious traffic violations. Their nature formed a pattern of deliberate and repeated negligent operation. Particularly bothersome was a June, 1958 conviction for "reckless driving." - On March 14, 1958, Deputy Sheriff Thomas Whitten had been on routine highway patrol outside Charlottesville, Virginia, when an Oldsmobile convertible ran a red light, sped off, then cut its tail lights to elude pursuit. A...

Sunday tee times SANDWICH, England -- Final-round British Open pairings and tee times. All times Eastern: Time Pairing 4:45 a.m. Greg Norman, Padraig Harrington 4:45 a.m. Shingo Katayama, Skip Kendall 5:05 a.m. Tom Lehman, Trevor Immelman 5:15 a.m. Tom Watson, Markus Brier 5:25 a.m. Darren Clarke, K.J. Choi 5:35 a.m. Gary Murphy, Mike Weir 5:50 a.m. Raphael Jacquelin, J.L.Lewis 6 a.m. David Lynn, Anthony Wall 6:10 a.m. Duffy Waldorf, Tom Byrum 6:20 a.m. Ian Poulter, Brad Faxon 6:30 a.m. Hennie Otto, Peter Fowler 6:40 a.m. Marco Ruiz, Phil Mickelson 6:50 a.m. Jose Coceres, Andrew Oldcorn 7:05 a.m. Retief Goosen, Paul...

July 16, 2003 Scotch Whiskey: A Rugged Drink for a Rugged Land By R. W. APPLE Jr. ELGIN, Scotland IAN URQUHART, a gently spoken, 55-year-old Scotch whiskey man who heads the firm of Gordon & MacPhail, led the way through his firm's 6,000-barrel warehouses here in northeastern Scotland, identifying some of the choicest lots for an overseas visitor. "That's 60-year-old Mortlach," he said fondly. "We bottled some of it in 2000 and more in 2001. There's still a little left. That cask was filled for my grandfather. It slept right through my father's generation." He walked past a cask of...

Scotch whisky is proving more popular than ever, with more than 1bn bottles of the spirit exported from Scottish distilleries for the first time. Concerns that sales of whisky were declining in the face of the inexorable rise its Russian rival, vodka, were eased yesterday after the Scottish Whisky Association announced that exports had recovered, and last year reached record levels. The overseas market for Scotch last year contributed £2.3bn to Britain's balance of payments, with every drop distilled in Scotland and aged, by law, for at least three years. The chancellor also takes about 70% in tax on the...