A 150-year-old bottle of beer originally brewed for a Victorian Arctic expedition is set to be opened so a modern recreation can be made.
As reported by the BBC, the rare bottle of Allsopp’s Arctic Ale was created in a town in England, Burton upon Trent, in 1875 for Sir George Nares’ North Pole mission. The beer was designed to withstand extreme cold, with an alcohol strength of around 9% and six times the calories of regular beer to sustain sailors in freezing conditions.
The bottle was later discovered in a garage in Gobowen, Shropshire, and sold at auction in 2015 for £3,300, roughly $4,200 USD, to Dougal Gunn Sharp, founder of Edinburgh-based brewery Innis & Gunn.
Sharp now plans to open it during the brewing process at the company’s facility to analyze its yeast and flavor profile before using it to make a new limited edition beer in collaboration with Allsopp’s Brewery, called Innis & Gunn 1875 Arctic Ale.
150-year-old beer to be opened and recreated
“Some people might think it’s madness to open it, but I think the real madness would be to leave it sitting on a shelf,” Sharp said. “Beer is meant to be shared, particularly on this, its 150th anniversary.”
Jamie Allsopp, founder of the revived Allsopp’s Brewery and a direct descendant of Samuel Allsopp, called the idea “a kind of alchemy,” describing the original as “one of the strongest and most extraordinary beers ever made.”
Allsopp’s Arctic Ale was first brewed for the British Arctic Expedition of 1875 to 1876, led by Sir George Nares, and surviving bottles are now considered some of the rarest in brewing history.
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