Divers Find 1864 Bottle of Guinness in Shipwreck
Researchers will test the sealed bottle for yeast DNA and may recover four more bottles from the wreck, the divers said.
- Divers Belgian Stefan Panis and Brit Eddie Huzzie recovered a sealed 162-year-old bottle of Guinness Extra Stout from the Mindoro shipwreck off Dover in the English Channel, discovering it last year during a dive.
- The Mindoro sank during dense fog on November 27, 1864, while carrying around 24 bottles of Guinness alongside other cargo after setting sail for Vancouver from London and colliding with another ship.
- Scientists at Leuven University in Belgium are attempting to recover yeast DNA to re-create the 1860s brew by finding modern living siblings of the original yeast, dubbing the effort "Project Jurassic Beer."
- Guinness owner Diageo is evaluating the find, and divers plan to return later this month to recover four additional bottles, with Panis noting the company is "super, super excited" about the intact discovery.
- Microbiologist Kevin Verstrepen noted that 19th-century Guinness lacked nitrogen carbonation, meaning the beer could have "sour or funky flavors," while experts emphasize beer yeast has limited lifespan after bottling.
42 Articles
42 Articles
A 162-year-old bottle of Guinness has been recovered from a shipwreck near Dover, and researchers are investigating whether the special beer could still be drinkable.
Divers recover bottle of Guinness from a 162-year-old shipwreck
The dark glass bottle was one of dozens strewn around the sunken ship when the divers spotted it. Unlike many others, though, its seal was intact, and up on the surface, they could make out the words: “Guinness Extra Stout, London.”
VTM Nieuws During a dive in search of an engulfed cargo ship, Stefan Panis, an amateur diver from Bornem, in the province of Antwerp, made an exceptional discovery: a bottle of Guinness dating back to 1864, still sealed and in perfect apparent condition after more than 160 years under the water. "When I saw this bottle blown by hand among the debris, the stopper immediately drew my attention," he told our colleagues at VTM Nieuws. "As it was sti…
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