Australian brewers are hard at work trying to revive a 220 year old beer that they found on a shipwreck at sea. The yeast of the beer managed to survive due to the fact that the bottles remained sealed, and that the water in which it was located was ice cold.
According to Mashable, these beer bottles were found in the shipwreck of a merchant ship called the Sydney Cove, which was discovered over two decades ago by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. The ship is thought to have been traveling from India to the colony of Port Jackson. It was transporting beer, tobacco, tea, and rice, and it became shipwrecked at Preservation Island in 1797.
Brewing company James Squire is in charge of producing the beer in partnership with the museum. It’ll be called The Wreck Preservation Ale and it’s also porter style. It’ll have a limited release on June of this year.
Museum conservator David Thurrowgood said that they were cultivating the yeast because they thought that they were capable of cultivating a beer that “hasn’t been on the planet for 220 years.” He also expressed that they had to work hard to bring the beer back in order to enhance its “unique characteristics.”
After several tests, brewers were able to create a beer that has hints of blackcurrant and spices and that’s also a little funky. It’s officially the oldest beer in the planet.
