Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, the owner of UB group that owns Scotch whisky-maker Whyte & Mackay, flew to Christchurch collect three bottles of more than a century old whisky.

The bottles of whisky, which were at the Canterbury museum since August 2010, were among the three crates that were abandoned in Antarctica in 1907 by the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

These bottles were found buried under in ice under the hut at the explorer's former base camp in Antarctica in 2007. Last year, one crate of 11 full bottles of "Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt" was dig out of the ice by the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya has plans to take the bottles to Glasgow and then to Whyte & Mackay at Inverness so that the historic drink could be analyzed and recreated.

Speaking on the topic, Mr. Mallya said, "This is a piece of history not only for our company, but the entire whisky industry. Never before have we had access to whisky over 100 years old that has been kept in a natural freezer."

Explorer Shackleton's hopes of reaching the South Pole were shattered after bad weather compelled him and his team members to retreat only 97 miles short their his goal.

Apart from liquor business, Mr. Mallya owns Kingfisher Airline and newspapers, and has stakes in three football teams and a Formula One motor racing team.