Old Beers Revived

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Black beauty comes up from the deep

A bottle of Guinness 162 years old has been brought to the surface from a ship wrecked off the coast near Dover. It's now being analysed to see if it still contains live yeast. If the beer is drinkable or can be brewed again it will give a fascinating insight into how beers tasted more than 150 years ago

Added: Wednesday, September 16th 2026

Feature

Thomas Hardy: Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy's Ale has had a turbulent history like one of the author's Wessex novels. First brewed by Eldridge Pope in Dorchester, it moved to O'Hanlon's and then Meantime breweries, The classic English barley wine is now owned by an Italian drinks business and a new edition has been brewed by Hepworth in Sussex.

Added: Sunday, November 24th 2024

Guest Column

Pale ale and the long voyage to India

Des de Moor on the long history of beer brewed for the India trade in the 19th century and the difference between those historic brews and modern IPAs. He discusses the role of conventional brewers' yeast and such wild strains as Brettanomyces that would have given sharply different flavours to the Victorian styles

Added: Sunday, January 28th 2024

Feature

Beer legend Prentice brings back a Truman pale ale from Victorian times

Brewmaster Derek Prentice, who worked for Truman's before joining Young's and then Fuller's, has helped the new Truman's Brewery in Hackney Wick to create an Export Pale Ale based on a Victorian recipe, using no fewer than eight hops and the original Truman's yeast

Added: Saturday, October 18th 2014

Old Beers Revived

Black beauty comes up from the deep

Thomas Hardy: Return of the Native

Pale ale and the long voyage to India

Beer legend Prentice brings back a Truman pale ale from Victorian times

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