Stallhagen – the only microbrewery on Åland – has submitted a formal request to the local government to analyse & commercialise the world’s oldest beer.
“First and foremost we want to determine if the contents of the bottle actually is beer. Then we will determine what the beer was made of and the condition of the yeast”
Chairman of the Board mr Peter Grönlund says in an interview with local newspaper Ålandstidningen.
Mr. Grönlund does not believe that the beer would be a substantial money maker but rather a nich product which perhaps might ever require its own micro- or nano- brewery to produce.
If Stallhagen funds the research of the bottles then it also would require exclusive rights to the results. Stallhagen would most likely commission VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to conduct the research.
3 bottles recovered, 2 still intact
The local government has yet not decided if Stallhagen will be given access to the bottles. In an interview in local newspaper Nya Åland Mr. Rainer Juslin Head of Department at the local government reflects upon the issue:
“[…] these are complicated issues […] we’ve never before had to deal with […]. However this question does not only concern Stallhagen, but also the larger question how to market the Åland Islands […]”
References:
Nya Åland 21 September 2010
Ålandstidningen 22 September 2010
Tip: check out the world’s oldest champagne & beer found on on a shipwreck in the Baltic.
