This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Innis & Gunn brews ‘100-year-old’ beer
Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn has set aside a beer that it intends to age for a century before drinking, having encased it in a time capsule not to be opened for 100 years.
Pic Alan Richardson Dundee, Pix-AR.co.uk
Innis and Gunn Inveralmond Brewery Perth time capsule
Matured in American Bourbon casks, only 8,000 bottles of the brewer’s limited edition 7.7% abv ‘Vintage’ beer were produced for sale. Most have already been snapped up by beer fans, however one has been placed in a time capsule with instructions for it to be opened in 2116, as part of an experiment to test its ageing capabilities.
Created with Super Styrian hops, Vintage is a “bottle-conditioned strong ale that becomes richer and more complex the longer it is left”, said Innis & Gunn, which describes its taste profile as “buttered toast, creamy toffee, a little sharpness from the yeast and a creamy full mouthfeel.”
Although it can be drunk now, Innis & Gunn believe it to be particularly suited to extended ageing, with the yeast contained in the bottle continuing to “condition the beer beyond its official ‘Best Before’ date”.
Its taste profile is expected to change significantly by the time it is drunk, giving brewers the chance to test the ageing capabilities of a beer in a controlled way.
“I’ve been brewing beer for the past 30 years and with each new recipe there’s always something new to learn”, said Dougal Gunn Sharp, founder and master brewer.
“This was certainly the case with Vintage which has been a labour of love that takes another giant step in our innovative approach to beer.”
The time capsule beer will be displayed in sealed transparent enclosure at Innis & Gunn’s Inveralmond Brewery in Perth.
“We want the time capsule to serve as a reminder for us to keep innovating, keep pushing boundaries and keep expanding people’s ideas of what beer can be”, added Sharp.
“Just like Vintage, we’ll continue to get better with time and I just wish I could be there in one hundred years when the brewers open up the capsule and taste the beer.”