We’ve all pushed the limits with expiration dates.
Perhaps that milk in the fridge expired Tuesday, but since it passes the “sniff test,” it makes the cut.
Now imagine if that thing in your fridge expired almost two centuries ago. Would you still drink it then? Not even the sniff test could justify that, right? Especially if what you sniffed smelled of burnt rubber, over-ripe cheese, dimethyl sulfide, autolyzed yeast and, well, goat.
Yeah, thought so.
Scientists in Finland recently discovered a 170-year-old beer, buried inside a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. To put that in perspective, when this beer sank, James Polk was president of the United States, and the Civil War was still 16 years away.
Over time, seawater seeped into the bottles as they sat 165 feet below the surface. The bright golden yellow, slightly hazy ale was diluted by seawater by almost 30 percent. The bacterial activity is what researchers say contributed to the repulsive notes, but upon further evaluation, scientists discovered something pretty extraordinary.
Burnt rubber and goat smell aside, the surviving compounds suggest that these beers were similar in taste to many modern-day beers. The beer simply smelled too disgusting to detect flavors, but its chemical composition hinted at what it might have tasted like.
The two beers, named A56 and C49, turned out to be distinct brews. C49 is hoppier and probably more bitter tasting. For A56, an examination of yeast-derived flavor compounds (aka the stuff that makes beers fruity and floral-smelling) yielded notes of rose and sweet apple flavors. C49’s flavor was closer to that of green tea.
Regardless of the variability in flavor, both these beers were definitely on the sour side. It wasn’t until the late 19th century when the brewing process prevented the formation of acid-producing bacteria, reducing the sour effect. Basically any beer prior to that point was sour tasting.
This isn’t the first time outdated brew and spirits have been found at the bottom of the Baltic. In 2010, another shipwreck was discovered. That ill-fated voyage originated near the second quarter of the 19th century, carrying some precious cargo. Divers found 168 bottles of Champagne (later determined to be a combo of Juglar and Veuve Clicquot). Most were contaminated or broken, but a few survived and remarkably still tasted “pretty good.”
Also aboard were five beers. Upon return to land, one of the bottles broke and one bold diver decided to take a swig. The verdict? It still had a somewhat familiar “beer” taste. It was a brave, brave thing to do. For science.
So it’s not totally surprising that the 170-year-old beer found recently did indeed resemble what we know as beer.
You can read the full report, published by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, here.
For anyone with an undying passion to sample this 19th–century concoction, Finnish brewery Stallhagen has formulated a limited-edition replica beer, intended to recreate the original, sans goat smell.
Would you put your stomach to the test with 170-year-old beer? Let us know in the comments section below.
