La Alazana Logo
Antartica Whisky Project
A historic project inspired by Cask World and executed by La Alazana Distillery, Isla Marambio is the world’s first-ever whisky to be maturing on the Antarctic Continent. For now, two casks containing the most southerly matured whisky in the world rest securely at Base Marambio. The whisky will be returned to La Alazana distillery and bottled in Argentina in 2025.
These unique bottles will be split between La Alazana Distillery and Rosewin Holdings, the bottles destined for Rosewin Holdings are to form part of an exciting new series of premium single malts under the Cask World Reserve brand.
Cask World Reserve is excited to bottle seven bottles set of matured whiskies from all seven continents of the globe; from the foothills of the Himalayas in India and the valley of the wines in Bento Goncalves, Brazil to Tasmania's rural outback alongside the Derwent River to name a few; and now the icy extremes of the Antarctic.
The pioneering project - dreamt up by Daniel Monk, Cask World’s founder – was shared with La Alazana founders Nestor & Lila Serenelli in April 2022, during his inaugural visit at their distillery, whilst purchasing casks for Cask World's future bottling brand Cask World Reserve. As the idea was unveiled, their excitement grew about being part of whisky history, and they committed to work on the project. Thanks to the logistical support of the Argentinian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces the dream of maturing whisky on Antarctica finally came to fruition in November 2022, just 8 months later – a truly remarkable achievement. Congratulations, La Alazana.
Nestor Serenelli has already made arrangements to take a second shipment of the distillery's whisky to a more southern base, where the temperatures range between -40 and -5 with average winter wind speeds of over 100mph.
“We are thrilled to be on track to accomplish the dream of bottling matured whisky from each of the seven continents. Isla Marambio, Antartida Argentina is a success story inspired by Cask World, and brought to reality by La Alazana Distillery with the help of the Argentine Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces.”
Daniel Monk, Founder & Consultant - Cask WorldInteresting Facts
The idea behind the world's first Antarctic matured whisky was something founder Daniel Monk has been passionate about since launching Rosewin Holdings in 2018, with a vision of one day maturing whisky on all seven continents. Then in April 2022, after meeting with Nestor and Lila Serenelli at La Alazana in Argentina and recognizing their genuine passion for whisky and unique location, he realized he’d discovered the ideal people to trust with his dream and work with to bring the challenge to fruition.
Thanks to Nestor and Lila's enthusiasm and the Argentinian Ministry of Defence who provided logistical and operational support for La Alazana enabling them to complete this bold challenge.
One of the casks of this incredibly special and rare whisky will, upon maturation, form part of the seven-bottle set from global distilleries known as the ‘Seven Continents Series.’
For La Alazana their plan is to make this an annual occurrence in the hope that the Antarctic environment and terroir will create the final frontier for whisky flavours available on Earth.
Cask World's Highlights
We're thrilled that our long-term dream is on track to being accomplished - bottling whisky from all seven Continents of the world will be an achievement! Thanks to the hard work, support, and dedication of all distilleries around the world that have allowed us to purchase some of their maturing whiskies.
A special thanks to La Alazana for believing in our idea and being perfectly mad enough to not only go for it, but also get the job done in record time!
On November, 7th, 2022 following an uncertain wait, Nestor Serenelli boarded a military Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane bound for Rio Gallegos, deep in Patagonia, the first stop on route to Camp Marambio - a permanent, all-year-round Argentine station on the Antarctic continent with La Alazana's precious cargo.
On arrival in Antarctica, Nestor didn't have the luxury of time to spend exploring his new surroundings, he'd been given a strict 4-hour window to move all casks and barrels off the plane, or face being stranded for weeks or even months in the depths of Antarctica, so the race began by emptying the whisky that had been transported in kegs, back into the wooden casks, pack up and have everything back on board for departure in time for the return flight.
With a few minutes to spare, Nestor Stencilled our logo onto one of the two casks making history and hastily took in his surroundings.
Reporting he's never seen anything like it in his life, he struggled to find the words to describe the extreme beauty of the desolate, harsh, beautiful landscape. With frost and ice covering the land as far as the eye could see and being beaten by a never-ending wind, he spotted some penguins but not much else!
Then before he knew it the trip was over - and all our goals were achieved. La Alazana Distillery became the first distillery in history to mature whisky on the Antarctic continent and our dreams of sharing Antarctic matured single malts with passionate whisky enthusiasts are on track.
Isla Marambio proves what can be achieved within the industry when ideas are shared, visions align, and teams work together.
With our current Guinness World Record for The World's Largest Bottle of Whisky, known as the ‘Intrepid’, and now contributing to this historical moment of maturing whisky on the Antarctic Continent for the first time, we're thrilled to be pushing the boundaries in the New World Whisky Industry and excited to be sharing our ‘Seven Continents Series’ with the world.
Isla Marambio at a glance
Project Founders
Daniel Monk
Nestor and Lila SereneliProject Established
2022
Distillery Name
La Alazana
Distillery Location
Chubut, Argentina
Head Distiller
Lila Serenelli
The Project Team
La Alazana along with logistical support from the Argentine Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces
Facilities
These special casks are the first ever to be matured on Antarctica, at the Marambio Base.
Primary Whisky Types
Isla Marambio whisky was made with organic malt, matured in virgin oak for 5 years at La Alazana distillery in the Andes mountains in Argentina, and then repacked into Ex bourbon casks in Antarctica.
Cask Types
Ex-Bourbon Virgin Oak
Cask Storage
Prior to moving to the Marambio Base in Antarctica, the casks had been resting on site at the La Alazana Distillery, Argentina
Av. Length of Maturation
This special release is to remain in Antarctica until 2025 creating 7-year-old Antarctic Single Malt whisky.
Angels' Share
1-2%
Current Bottle Prices
TBC on release
Take a look around
Click on an image to view the gallery full screen