Project Jurassic Beer: divers attempt to rebrew a 162-year-old Guinness

Deep-sea diver attempt to rebrew an 1864 Guinness

The project began when divers found 20 bottles of Guinness, dating to 1864, on a wreck off the English coast last summer.

They have since enlisted microbiologists at Leuven University in Belgium to try to recreate the ancient ale, with one of the divers saying success would “unlock a form of liquid time travel”.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk, beer expert Dean McGuinness said the bottles had been found in “perfect conditions” for preservation, pointing to the lack of light, a low temperature of around 4°C and the high-pressure environment on the seabed.

He cautioned that pinning down the flavour could be tricky, however.

The recovered bottles were live beers with yeast still inside, meaning the original taste is “a moving target” as the yeast changes over time, though he doubted it had altered the flavour significantly given the conditions.

McGuinness said the effort had made a strong start, with the Belgian yeast experts being the “the best in the world”.

He also noted researchers are working with the Guinness archive to identify the other ingredients and brewing processes used in the 1860s.

Whether the black stuff of 1864 ever reaches Irish glasses commercially, though, remains to be seen.

For more on the brand’s history, see Netflix drama House of Guinness.