150 Year-Old Arctic Ale Opened For Historic Recreation Project

A bottle of Allsopp’s Arctic Ale has just been uncorked for the first time to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1875 arctic expedition it was brewed for.

The bottle was produced in 1875 for Sir George Nares’ attempt to reach the North Pole, and was uncorked at the Innis & Gunn Brewery in Perth by the Scottish company’s founder, Dougal Gunn Sharp, and Jamie Allsopp, director of the revived Allsopp’s Brewery and a direct descendant of the beer’s original creators.

Sharp, who acquired the 750ml bottle at auction for over £3,000 ($3,935) more than a decade ago after it was found in a garage in northern England, said: “We’ve made history today and you can literally taste it. I’ve waited 10 years to try this, and the flavour of the beer was incredible - it didn’t disappoint and testament to the skill and thoroughness of the Allsopp’s brewers more than 150 years ago. It started with a savoury, Bovril like flavour, then sweetness like treacle with the weight of a good sherry, and an undeniable hoppiness despite the incredibly high sugar content. It’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted before."

“There’s something magical about knowing that every drop of Innis & Gunn 1875 Arctic Ale will now have this direct link to the expedition, and part of the UK’s maritime and brewing history. This new beer will blow people’s socks off.”

Allsopp, who had never tasted an original Allsopp’s Arctic Ale before, said sampling the beer made by his forebears was ‘a rare, emotional moment’, adding: “This ale was brewed for survival in some of the harshest conditions imaginable, and to open it again today creates a direct line to the people and the purpose behind it. It was described in 1851 as mellow as aged Madeira, and nourishing as a beefsteak - and that is as true today as it was 175 years ago. To finally taste something as special as this truly blows my mind. It’s a privilege to work with Innis & Gunn on a project so utterly mad and also brilliant. It also confirms that Allsopp’s really do make brilliant beer.”

Samuel Allsopp & Sons in Burton-upon-Trent designed the beer for sailors enduring temperatures as low as -40C (104F) and it had an alcohol strength of about 9 percent, says BBC News. The beer was said to resist freezing because of its unfermentable sugars and it had six times the calorie content of conventional beer.

After uncorking and tasting the ale, some of it was poured into the first brew of a new limited-edition recreation, the Innis & Gunn 1875 Arctic Ale, which is being made to the original Allsopp’s recipe using authentic malt and hop varieties from the period. The remaining beer will be preserved for archive and research use, says Larder Magazine.

The recreation batch will now ferment over the coming weeks, with the finished beer set to launch in early December across Innis & Gunn taprooms in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Allsopp’s pubs in London, and selected stockists. A small number of hand-bottled editions will be offered through a public ballot.