Old beer unearths royal failure

[xchrom]

http://draftmag.com/beereditor/old-beer-unearths-royal-failure/



I’m terrible at cleaning my fridge. There’s always that one item, a Tupperware-encased relic from my salad days hidden behind two jars of spaghetti sauce and a thing of mustard, which requires further examination. Finding old stuff in your kitchen is not the Indiana Jones experience you wish it to be. Finding old stuff in an English brewery—well, that’s a different story.

Last week, a surprising 2,000 bottles of ale were uncovered at the 200-year-old brewery Greene King in Suffolk, England. The beer was originally brewed in 1936 to celebrate Edward VIII’s first year as King, but quickly shelved (spoiler alert!) after he ditched royalty under the seductive prowess of American Wallis Simpson—a divorcee, no less. But, unlike the junk I tend to find in my fridge, this Coronation Ale is reported to be aging nicely, according to current Greene King brewmaster John Bexon, as told to London’s Daily Mirror:

“This really would have been a fantastic beer in its day, it was 12% when it was brewed so is quite strong and has kept really well. The rich fruit flavour still stands out,” says Bexon.

But that’s not all: The brewery’s known to have a network of unexplored cellars, which means there’s a likelihood even more treasure is yet to be discovered. Fortunately, the same can not be said for my fridge.

[sharp_stick]

1. Man, would I like to get my hand

on a case of that stuff, and then go exploring in the cellars for awhile.

[MicaelS]

2. Wow, shows how little I know about beer...

I didn't think beer aged like wine. I thought it went bad after a while.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Pasteurised beer goes bad.

This is "real ale", it's got live yeast and will mature in the bottle or cask for years or even decades after brewing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The high alcohol content may be what makes the difference

12% is the same as a typical wine. At that strength, it is sometimes called barley wine.

[bullwinkle428]

5. Hops go bad, so aging beer requires a high alcohol, malty, low-hop variety.