So, you’re headed to the South Pole? You might want to drag along a few cases of premium Scotch. Especially since Ernest Shackleton’s whiskey is now in a climate-controlled vault in a New Zealand museum.

Shackleton — whose failed bid at a land-crossing of Antarctica in 1914 resulted in an amazing story of endurance and survival — left behind a few cases of Scotch and brandy. Researchers (yeah, I’ll bet they’re researching) have finally decided to moved the Scotch from Shackleton’s preserved hut in Antarctica to a New Zealand lab, where they’ll slowly warm it up and see how it has fared over the last century.

The crates were labeled “old and rare” when Shackleton took them to Antarctica. They’ve only gotten older and rarer since then. Which is where Richard Paterson comes in.

The master distiller at at Whyte & Mackay, the successor company to Shackleton’s brand of Charles MacKinlay & Co., Paterson is hoping to analyze and taste the preserved Scotch. If it’s a tasty blend (and it is a blend, not a single-malt), Whyte & Mackay want to reproduce and sell the whiskey as a tribute (and marketing hook) to the historic explorer.

Is it art? Is it beer? It’s probably both. The End of History is a new Belgian ale brewed by Scotland’s BrewDog brewery. At 55 percent alcohol, it’s the most potent beer ever created.

BrewDog has made a name for concocting bizarre and groundbreaking beers, but has mainly grabbed headlines for its arms race against other craft breweries for creating high-alcohol-content beers made through a special process that keeps the beer at extremely cold temperatures.

The beers are made for sipping, and come with stoppers, so you can plug and preserve them for later. But if you’re thinking of buying a bottle of The End of History, forget it. The limited edition run of 12 bottles has sold out. (Don’t click the links in this post if you’re squeamish about seeing beer packaging and squirrel taxidermy combined as a form of marketing-based shock-art.)

You can still pick up a bottle of BrewDog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin or Sink the Bismarck beers, both at more than 30 percent alcohol by volume. As much as we’d love to carry these beers, Juniper customers aren’t fanatical enough to ask for them. (Yet.) So click over to BrewDog for details.

Congratulations to our friends at Wyoming Whiskey on the production of their 1,000th barrel in April. If you haven’t yet visited them in Kirby, make plans to stop by and check out Wyoming’s first (legal) distillery. Call them at 307-864-2116 to set up a visit.

Just minutes from Thermopolis, you can make a day of it by taking a relaxing soak in waters from the world’s largest mineral hot spring before or after your distillery tour. We recommend a burger for lunch at Butch’s Place, right next door to Wyoming Whiskey.

And check out Wyoming Whiskey’s private barrel program, where you can learn tricks of the trade from master distiller Steve Nally. Get your name on your own barrel of bourbon, and be among the first to sample what is sure to be the next great boutique whiskey.

Just as the folks in Oklahoma have finally won the legal right to brew beer at home, the whole darned United States is celebrating Craft Beer Week via an official act of Congress.

Sure, there’s a spiraling national debt, two wars, a lingering economic downturn and the angriest electorate in decades, but maybe, just maybe, focusing on a few well-made beers can help turn the corner toward lasting peace and prosperity.

OK, probably not. But as the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Betsy Markey of Colorado said, you’d have to be nuts to vote against it.

“It does seem like a no brainer,” Markey told Politico.

She also declined to pick a favorite beer, which isn’t showing great leadership, but she then stated that “you can’t just have one.” She’s got our vote.

The Juniper tasting team is off to the Kentucky Derby this week, where we’ll be sampling as many bourbons as possible. Also, there is supposed to be a horse race going on sometime over the weekend.

We’ve had many customers request mint julep recipes for your home viewing or Kentucky Derby parties. Frankly, a little ice or water is all a good bourbon needs, but for the sake of tradition, here’s how to make a great mint julep:

Crush a few mint leaves in an 8-ounce glass and fill with crushed ice. (A silver goblet is the traditional glass, but who can afford one of those?)

Add one tablespoon of simple syrup and one tablespoon of water. Add two ounces of your favorite bourbon. Stir gently until glass becomes frosty. Garnish with a few mint leaves. Enjoy!

They can put a man on the moon, so why can’t they make a vodka that comes in a bottle that has an electronic screen that displays scrolling messages? Oh, never mind. It looks like that product already exists.

This begs the question: if you have to put an electronic screen that displays scrolling messages on the bottle to get people to buy the vodka, how good can the vodka be? Then again, with 86 trillion new vodka brands launched every week, it takes a bit more than partnering with Diddy, or even Andy Warhol, to get noticed.

How to Program a Message on Your MEDEA Bottle from Medea Spirits on Vimeo.

Joel Stein writes in Time magazine about cocktails that feature meat. That’s right, for those of you who feel like the alcohol alone isn’t enough, add some meat to your martini to both clog your arteries and pickle your brain simultaneously. Stein writes:

It’s easy to come up with ghastly combinations, but creating a meat drink that actually tastes good seems like a tough thing to pull off.

Riiiight. From the bloody bull to the bull shot to other “cocktails for carnivores,” Stein even offers video of his cocktail concoction confabulation at the Sunset Marquis. Look at it this way — have one of these, and you’ll never be drinking on an empty stomach.

The New York Times has a great look at “indy wine shops” in the paper’s wine blog, The Pour. Eric Asimov reports on small, friendly, funky wine shops in New York that operate much like indy vinyl record stores. (If you’re under 40, records are what they had before CDs, which came before MP3s. Never mind.)

The shared characteristics of the featured shops include: selections of affordable wines from lesser-known producers; fun and comfortable spaces to sit and try new wines with friends; and owners who learn customers’ tastes, recommending compatible wines. These are all areas of focus at Juniper, too!

Asimov writes:

Small shops like Ms. Frank’s are built on customer service, with the aim of encouraging return visits and, ultimately, building a cherished corps of regulars. This requires not just tolerance but an eagerness to discuss any aspect of wine, approached from any angle.

“I don’t consider any question stupid,” said Mr. Beavers of Alphabet City. “The anxiety of walking into a wine shop is uncalled for.”

Wine is, after all, about the pleasure it offers. Sometimes, it’s in the glass you’ve poured for yourself, but as any host will tell you, more often it’s what you have poured for your guests.

“What I find most fulfilling is not the big dollar sale but watching the incremental jumps that customers make as they elevate their interest,” said Mr. Huston of Hunter’s Point. “Sometimes you can make a small difference in somebody’s evening with the right bottle. I have no loftier ambition.”

That’s a great way to approach selling wine, and one we hope you’ll find at Juniper.

Juniper Wine & Spirits has kicked it up a notch in cyberspace, adding a web site makeover, some new photos and a blog, all with an elegant, streamlined design. But no doubt, the young folks will be thrilled to see we’ve set up a Facebook profile and a Twitter account.

That’s right, Juniper is going to be FaceTweeting and TwitBooking and GoogleTubing our way to an intensely meaningful personal connection with our customers. Or, we’re at least going to try to do a bit more to reach out and let friends know what we’ve got going on.

Let us know what you like or don’t like about the new site. And we’ll see you on the Internets!