![]() ![]() When Steve Hickman first began gathering bottles of beer from the Wallachia back in the 1980s, he claims it was still – just about – drinkable. This kind of search is called bioprospecting and resurrecting historic yeasts could have many applications, from cleaning up pollution to assisting in the production of aromas for the perfume industry. That means hunting for them in old bottles found on shipwrecks, scouring ancient pots, and collecting samples from ruined distilleries where fabled strains may yet linger. It is just one example of a growing field of research among brewers and other fermenters of liquids who are seeking forgotten strains of yeast in the hope they can be put to good use. Those beers contained an unusual type of yeast and the team behind the work is now evaluating whether this long-lost strain could have applications in modern brewing or could even improve beers today. But the study of the Wallachia yeast revealed a surprise. In 2018, a similar project in Tasmania used yeast from 220-year-old beer bottles found on a shipwreck to approximate a beverage from the 1700s. They then used that yeast in an attempt to recreate the original beer. The bottles they retrieved were handed to scientists at a research firm called Brewlab, who, along with colleagues from the University of Sunderland, were able to extract live yeast from the liquid inside three of the bottles. But his recent visit, a team effort with several companion divers, led to something unusual. Since he began diving to the Wallachia in the 1980s, Hickman has retrieved dozens of bottles containing whisky, gin and beer. Many of them have been preserved in the cold water where the ship lay on the silty seabed for more than a century. But the ship also had thousands of bottles of alcoholic beverages aboard. The Wallachia had just departed from Glasgow and was packed with various kinds of cargo, including large containers of a chemical called tin chloride. The wreck was the Wallachia, a cargo ship that sank in 1895 off the Scottish coast following a collision with another vessel in heavy fog. Once he had gathered and bagged a few, he made his escape and his team carefully carried the bottles to the surface. He carried on, feeling for more bottles in the gloom. But he knew this wreck well and had visited it many times before. With visibility reduced to nil, Hickman was effectively blinded. Preserved in the hold of this vessel were row upon row of glass beer bottles, partly buried in silt.Īs soon as he moved the first bottle from where it lay, sediment billowed in huge clouds. The explorer in question, Steve Hickman, a dive technician and amateur diver, carried a small, netted bag with him. ![]() But now some of it was about to be freed from its resting place. It had been down there for more than 100 years. Discover more of our picks here.Īs the diver gently eased himself through a hatch into the sunken hold, he could see the shipwreck's treasure lying in wait for him. ![]() As we head towards the end of another extraordinary year, BBC Future is taking a look back at some of our favourite stories for our "Best of 2021" collection. ![]()
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