| Viewing swaag.org website implies consent to set cookies on your computer. Full details | Swaledale and
Arkengarthdale Archaeology Group Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation Number 1155775 |
SWAAG Honorary President:
Tim Laurie F,S,A, |
| SWAAG News Archive | |
| News Archive | |
| Out of the Bottle! | |
| May’s meeting was rather different, as we got to sample some beer! Our speaker was Keith Thomas, who as well as being a SWAAG member, is chairman of BrewLab in Sunderland. Keith spoke about the bioarchaeology of historic beers. Information about past beers can be found in documents from breweries, in recipes, from newspapers and from oral traditions. Recreating beers from these sources can be difficult as archaic measurements must be deciphered and the original ingredients sourced. There have also been attempts to recreate to historic brewing conditions using experimental archaeology. Beer bottles themselves often provide the best information. In the 1980s BrewLab decided to create a beer for Christmas. They decided on a porter, a beer whose popularity had declined by the 20th century, but although they obtained a recipe from Whitbread, they were uncertain about its authenticity. By chance some sealed bottles of original Flag Porter had been found in a 19th century shipwreck off the south coast. From these they were able to analyse the contents, discovering that there was still a small amount of yeast present. A new Flag Porter was then brewed and the taste was even authenticated by the elderly resident of a care home, who had enjoyed porter in his youth. More recently BrewLab acquired three bottles of Wallachia Stout, from a ship that sank in the Clyde estuary in 1895. DNA analysis confirmed the fungi and bacteria present and yet again there were traces of yeast. Several contaminants were also found because of the lack of sterilisation and modern hygiene. Contamination was a problem for brewers in the past, an outbreak of arsenic poisoning in Liverpool and Manchester, in 1900, was suspected to have been related to contaminated beer. Fortunately, BrewLab were able to recreate a more healthy version of the Wallachia Stout. BrewLab has recreated other beers but sadly it isn’t possible to cover all those in a few paragraphs. Keith ended with a plea to keep any beer bottles you might find – don’t empty the contents down the drain. If they’re already unsealed – don’t wash them out – valuable DNA information can still be obtained! J.H. |
|
 |
 |
| Flag porter | Historic bottles |
| Click Images to Enlarge | |
| News Record: 185 Updated: 02-06-2024 12:23:10 | |