Scientists confirmed that the 125-year-old bottle of Alexander Keith's, an amateur treasure hunter found at the bottom of the Halifax Harbour last year, is in fact beer.
CTV News reported that scuba diver Jon Crouse, who is a worker at a Halifax-area warehouse, found the green glass bottle in a three-meter deep water with its cork still intact. He wondered if the beer is still drinkable, which is why he sought the help of Dalhousie University scientist to test it. Fermentation research specialist Professor Andrew Macintosh found that the contents of the bottle is in fact an Indian pale ale beer.
National Post interviewed MacIntosh, who said that the beer has an odd, meaty flavor. He said the beer smelt like burnt barrel and a bit of sulfur. It had hints of lighter tree fruit taste, as well as a distinct bitterness of a strong ale.
According to Phys Org, Dr. MacIntosh hopes for a science discovery coming from testing the century-old bottle.
He said, "All of the chemicals that make up the beer, whether it's skunky or buttery, all of those have a peculiar chemical that contributes to that flavor. We can identify those, quantify those and it will give us some clues about the raw materials that were used in the production of that beer. They are set up to do that in Scotland with Dr. Spears, so we've taken a sample that we'll be sending to him that's leaving tomorrow [Friday] and between our two analyses we'll be able to paint a complete picture of that beer which we plan to publish."
The scientist said the beer had the same characteristics with the present Alexander Keith's, with a 4.3 acidity on the pH scale. This is notable since beers are usually ranges from four to five. Using the International Bitterness Units scale, the beer registered 15, which is higher than most industrial. Mass-produced lagers.
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