Belgian Scientists Reproduce 150-Year-Old Shipwrecked Beer

Belgian scientists have successfully reproduced a 19th century beer that was discovered during the search of a shipwreck off of the coast of Finland back in 2010.  The bottle had been submerged nearly 50 meters underwater since 1842.  The government of the autonomous Aland Islands contacted researchers at KU Leuven’s Brewing Technology Research Group of Belgium to analyze the antique brew.

After several years of research and reconstructive work, a Finnish brewery is now marketing what it claims to be an accurate recreation of the beer.  The beer will soon be introduced and for sale to the international marketplace. 

Brewmaster Gert De Rouck fermented a lineup of test beers using the same ingredients that were found in the shipwrecked bottles.  Based on the micro-organisms in the bottles, there were able to figure out which type of yeast and bacteria were used during the beer’s original creation. They believe the beer can be traced back to Belgium. 

With an ABV of 4.7% the beer is much sweeter than modern brews–due mostly in part because of the way the malt was produced back then.