200 year old beer (and butter!) found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea

[Heresson]

in a shipwreck.
The butter is in a very bad condition, but the beer container survived without any leek, and theorethically could be drank even now. But allegedly it stinks a bit, because of Saccharomyces used in its production. It contains very little hop.

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80273,7359356,Baltyk__Znalezli_piwo_i_maslo_w_200_letnim_wraku.html

this is the butter container:

[Wezil]

The link is in a made up language.

Nice pic though.

[BeBMan]

Beer thread

Old beer

[Elok]

Sadly, they could not have had cheesy fries, as potatoes are a new-world thing and mammals large enough to milk (except humans, which would be gross) exclusively old-world. Alas.

[KrazyHorse]

There was no transatlantic trade 200 years ago?

[Elok]

Whoops, I misread it as 2000. Stupid me. They could have had cheesy fries. I don't know when Ranch dressing was invented though.

[Dauphin]

I swear I saw them selling that butter in the Polish section of the supermarket today.

[DanS]

Did beer as we know it today (with hops) even exist 2,000 years ago?

[KrazyHorse]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer#History

Alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous types of plants, spices and other substances such as narcotic herbs.[17] What they did not contain was hops, as that was a later addition first mentioned in Europe around 822 by a Carolingian Abbot[18] and again in 1067 by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen.[19]

[KrazyHorse]

I don't think you can claim that a lack of hops makes something not "beer". It might taste a bit off to a modern palate, but it would be recognizably "beer".

[DanS]

No doubt. The Ancient Egyptians were hardcore with their beer. The week was 11 days long. The 11th day -- the weekend -- was for beermaking.

But I don't know that we would recognize it as beer by taste. I guess you might be able to find a beer without hops in a big liquor store.

[KrazyHorse]

I''m sure you would. Sounds like a research project...

[Drake Tungsten]

http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/year-round-brews/midas-touch.htm

[The Mad Monk]

That...isn't butter.

[Main_Brain]

Sadly, they could not have had cheesy fries, as potatoes are a new-world thing and mammals large enough to milk (except humans, which would be gross) exclusively old-world. Alas.

What about the Bison or the Buffalo? I am pretty sure the Buffalo provides milk.