[ad_1]
COBLESKILL, NY – In 1886, someone in New York who was waiting for a shipment of English beer never received the delivery. Today, 133 years later, a brewery in upstate New York, in conjunction with a nearby college, is trying to complete the long journey of beer to someone's glass.
A bottle of beer recovered from the sinking of the SS Oregon off Long Island in 1886 was forwarded to Bill Felter, owner and brewer of the Howe's Cave Serious Brewing Co. in Schoharie County. He brought it to SUNY Cobleskill, where students from a biotechnology lab are working to extract, analyze and – they hope – generate enough yeast to recreate the beer.
"It's exciting to think that this beer that has been at the bottom of the ocean for 133 years could be something that someone can drink today," Felter said.
21 old school beers who built the craft beer heritage of upstate New York State
Felter opened Serious Brewing and its tasting room in the community of Howe's Cave, near the famous Howe Caverns, in January 2018.
Jeff Pagano, one of Felter's usual customers, had participated in a dive on the wreck site of Oregon, in August 2017, aboard a ship called The Tempest . Among other artifacts, divers found three bottles of beer in the wreckage, which was submerged 130 feet of water near Fire Island.
Pagano brought one of the bottles to Felter, who immediately thought of SUNY Cobleskill's biotechnology program.
Last week, Felter, accompanied by Lynda McMasters-Schuyler, professor of biotechnology at Cobleskill, and university president, Marion A. Terenzio, attended the opening of the bottle with a group of Students in biotechnology.
Felter even tasted.
"The taste resembled that of barley wine / vinegar / cider," said Felter. "It was acidic, we just hope some of the yeast survived."
If the yeast has survived and can be propagated, it could be used to ferment a new version of the beer possibly present in the boat – but without the acidity and unpleasant taste that have appeared with aging for 133 years in the UK. # 39; ocean.
It could be a close match, since beer draws a lot of its flavor components from specific yeast strains.
Felter suspects the beer to be an ale, maybe even the famous Bass Ale, because the ship was British and en route from Liverpool England to New York. The bottles have long since lost their labels and do not carry any relief inscription indicating their name or origin.
The beer in the bottle was a bit dark, similar to the color of a low beer today, he said.
In addition to their efforts to preserve and spread yeast, Cobleskill's biotechnology class can try to associate its yeast with existing yeast strains of beer. This can help them identify the beer in the bottles. It is not known how long the process will take, or whether it will succeed.
Pagano suggested to Felter that if he managed to create a new version of the beer, he gives it a name paying tribute to the wreck. (No one died when Oregan sank).
"So it will be something like" Oregon Wreck Ale ", said Felter.
Using history to name and market Serious Brewing beers is natural to Feleter. The logo of his company looks like one of the blue historical markers of the state of New York. Beers in its regular lineup have names that recall the story, such as Running Redcoat Red Ale and Schoharie Burning Wheat. The two reference events of the Schoharie County Independence War.
The spread of brewer's yeast from age-old bottles has already been successfully completed, the last year in Australia. An Australian brewery called James Squire Craft Brewers made a beer from yeast found in a 220-year-old wreckage off Tasmania.
"Everything is exciting," said Felter. "We can eventually bring that beer back, get a little history and solve the mystery of what it really was.
Genny Cream Ale: New packaging, new marketing, even beer
Don Cazentre writes on craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and the post-standard. Reach him at [email protected], or follow him to NYup.com, sure Twitter or Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link