New hope for old hops
20 Mar 2013
Aland, Finland - One of the world’s oldest preserved beers is to be reproduced by the Stallhagen brewery of Aland.
Five bottles of the beer were salvaged from a 19th century shipwreck off the southwest coast of Finland in 2010. The vessel is believed to have sunk in the 1840s carrying an assortment of unique champagnes and beers.
Based on scientific research carried out by Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre, a new version of the old beer will be created using analytical instrumentation to determine the bottled beer’s make-up.
Stallhagen is developing the recipe and production is planned to start later this year. The brewery aims to launch its new version of the shipwreck beer early June 2014.
“There is an increasing global demand for special ales and we believe that recreating this historic beer will be of great interest to beer drinkers worldwide,” said Jan Wennstrom, CEO of Stallhagen.
A percentage of future sales from the beer is being allocated to marine archaeological work and environmental measures to improve the quality of water in the seas.