Beer has been a popular beverage for quite a while, and an international team of researchers recently gained insights into the refreshing brews people drank long ago.
Beer has been a popular beverage for quite a while, and an international team of researchers recently gained insights into the refreshing brews people drank long ago.
A bottle of the beverage discovered in the early 1990s amongst the treasures of Tasmania’s 18th century Sydney Cove shipwreck has been determined to likely be the oldest beer known.
The team recently found out that the 220-year-old beverage still contained live yeast unique to the time of its making.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Conservator David Thurrowgood who initiated the research, said, “It is genetically different to hundreds of yeast species it has been compared to from Australia and around the world. Traditionally beer was brewed in open vats. This yeast is consistent with historic brewing practices."
Scientists were able to extract a sampling of the yeast and replicate the recipe.
The resulting libation is described as being light and fresh.
Researchers hope to further examine the substances they pulled from the bottles and hope funding will become available for them to do so.
