162-Year-Old Guinness Found in Shipwreck Might Still Be Drinkable

How You Find a Beer Older Than Your Great-Great-Grandmother

Stefan Panis, a 47-year-old underwater photographer from Belgium, was diving the Mindoro wreck last year when he spotted the bottle in what appeared to be the ship's cargo hold. The New York Post reports that when he surfaced and got a clear look, the embossed label read 'Guinness Extra Stout London.' His words upon this discovery were, quote, 'Wow this is amazing.' Which, honestly, is about right.

The Mindoro was a barque that sank after colliding with a sailing ship called the Khersonese in late 1864. It went down with its cargo, which apparently included at least one case of stout, and possibly many more. Panis told the BBC he suspects the wreck may be hiding an entire case of 24 bottles, and possibly multiple cases. So there's a chance there's enough 162-year-old Guinness down there to throw a historically confusing party.

Science Is Now Involved, as It Should Be

Panis and fellow diver Eddie Huzzie, 68, didn't just crack it open on the boat like normal people. They sent samples to microbiologists at KU Leuven, a research university in Belgium, to find out what exactly they were dealing with. Good instinct. When you find a corked bottle of anything that has spent a century and a half at the bottom of the sea, you check with a professional first.

The results of that analysis could be extraordinary. Panis told the BBC that there is 'always a chance that we can recover the complete DNA' from the yeast or other biological material in the bottle, and if they do, researchers could potentially recreate the exact recipe of the beer as it was brewed in the 1860s. A re-brew. Of Victorian-era Guinness. Using DNA pulled from a shipwreck. This is the timeline we are living in, and for once it has produced something genuinely delightful.

As for whether the beer itself is still drinkable, Panis told the Post the key question is whether seawater got through the cork. If the seal held, he believes the stout is likely still good. He's also said he would drink it if given the green light. Which tells you something about either his confidence in the seal, his tolerance for risk, or the particular appeal of a beer no one alive has ever tasted.

Diageo Has Entered the Chat

Panis also reached out to Diageo, the global drinks conglomerate that now owns the Guinness brand. Their response, per the New York Post, was the kind of carefully worded corporate statement that somehow still managed not to be completely soulless: 'Discoveries like this provide a fascinating window into our past and help build a deeper understanding of our heritage.'

Diageo added that their Guinness Archive team is now liaising with the divers to gather more information and evaluate the find. 'Liaising with the divers' is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Somewhere in Dublin, there is a person whose job title now technically includes 'communicating with the guys who found century-and-a-half-old stout in a shipwreck,' and that person is having a better Monday than you are.

The Part Where Panis Admits He Doesn't Even Really Like Guinness

Here is the detail that makes this story perfect: Stefan Panis, the man who found the beer, who has spent real time and energy sending samples to universities and contacting multinational corporations about it, has admitted he is not a huge fan of Guinness stout. He told the Post this directly. He found the most significant beer discovery in recent memory and his personal preference runs elsewhere.

And yet he says he would still take a sip if the scientists clear it. That is the spirit of inquiry right there. That is a man who understands that some experiences transcend personal taste. You don't have to love Guinness to understand that drinking a bottle from 1864 would be one of the stranger and more remarkable things a human being could do on a Tuesday afternoon.