I kind of doubt the Scots need to 'recreate the recipe' to make scotch whisky...though IIRC the whisky they found there a few years back was some rather pedestrian blended malt - and who would want to recreate that when much better malt is available today?
To quote "Yogurt": Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money ... is made.
Although, I doubt most people would know who Shackelton was.
I do remember somebody once marketed "Watergate Whiskey" during the investigation. IIRC, it sold for about $7/bottle.
The empty was worth a couple, three dollars more at the time.
My hopes of exploiting the differences in the two markets were dashed by being only 14 or 15 years old...
Yes, many distillers are prone to gimmicky promotions - which is precisely what this was. They saw a opportunity to turn an interesting discovery into a high-demand product (similar to the incident where Glenfiddich had one of its dunnage warehouse roofs caved-in by snow in 2010 - they responded with a special bottling).
I saw a bottle of the reproduction Shackleton's scotch at a local liquor store... it was in one of the locked glass cabinets alongside the high-end single malt stuff. I suspect I'd be more impressed by a bottle of something from Compass Box, and spend half as much.
Some of us are interested in what crafted drinks of times long past tasted like. I’d be delighted to get a bottle.