Baltic Porter celebrates the Little Mermaid and will remain drinkable for 100 years
Added: Monday, August 26th 2013
One hundred years after Carlsberg’s forefather Carl Jacobsen donated the statue of the Little Mermaid to the city of Copenhagen, a new beer has been brewed to commemorate the occasion.
Now an internationally recognised icon of Denmark and a huge tourist attraction, celebrations around the Little Mermaid’s centenary took place over the weekend of 24-26 August at Langelinie Kaj in Copenhagen, where the statue sits.
Carl Jacobsen’s love of art and admiration for Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale led to the donation of the statue to Denmark. Having seen a ballet performance based on the story, Jacobsen wanted to immortalise the aesthetics of the ballet and the magic of the fairy tale.
Prima ballerina Ellen Price was chosen as the inspiration and muse for the sculptor Edvard Eriksen. Believing that art should be made available to everyone to embellish lives, Jacobsen donated the statue to the city, where she longingly keeps watch for her beloved.
Lars Bernhard Jørgensen, CEO of Copenhagen’s tourist office, Wonderful Copenhagen, remarks on the importance of the Little Mermaid. He says: “The Little Mermaid may be a small artefact compared to other great historical monuments around the world - but she captures both history and fairy-tale, which causes quite a stir outside the borders of Denmark.
“Though the Little Mermaid is a historical symbol she continues to send a strong message. It might be that she symbolizes something universal - namely the instinct towards freedom and the longing to go abroad.
“Furthermore, we associate her with something Danish. A fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen, poet and perhaps Denmark’s first globalist, he understood the meaning of reaching out to the world and learning from it. Something we need today more than ever.”
And 100 years on, Carlsberg has brewed a celebratory beer to mark the occasion. Mermaid Porter takes its inspiration from the sea, and the limited edition Jacobsen beer has been brewed with 60 oysters and eight kilograms of samphire.
The Baltic style porter is bottom fermented, and with an ABV of 10 per cent, the beer is rich in smoky malt flavours and liquorice bitterness.
Brewed to mature over time, one bottle of the limited edition brew will be kept to be served at the 200th anniversary of the Little Mermaid. Morten Ibsen, master brewer at the Jacobsen brewery, says: "This is a really special beer and one that will live on in to the future. It is remarkable to think that on the 200th anniversary, people will be able to toast the Little Mermaid, using this beer."
The limited edition brew is sold in 0.75cl bottles at the Visit Carlsberg museum in Copenhagen or is available to buy online at www.thirstforgreat.com from 23 August.
