Innis & Gunn has unveiled its new 1875 Arctic Ale in a fittingly -10°C tribute to the North Pole expedition for which the recipe was created.
Revealed inside an ice sculpture at Edinburgh’s Polar Ice Bar, the new ABV 9.5% beer is a faithful recreation of Allsopp’s 1875 Arctic Ale, first brewed for Sir George Nares’ North Pole expedition, with the aim of sustaining British sailors battling temperatures as low as -40°C.
Innis & Gunn founder and master brewer Dougal Gunn Sharp bought a surviving 150-year-old bottle of the original ale for £3000 in 2015, and opened it at Innis & Gunn’s Perth brewery earlier this year, where it was used to seed the new brew, so every glass contains a drop of the original ale.
Sharp, a self confessed student of brewing history, said: “This beer has been 150 years in the making, and I have to say it’s an absolute knock out.
“We’ve recreated Allsopp’s legendary Arctic Ale in celebration of the original brew and the extraordinary people it was made for, the explorers who carried it towards the North Pole.
“Opening that original bottle and using it to seed our new brew was one of the most nerve-racking but exciting moments of my brewing career,” confessed Sharp.
“You never quite know how an experiment like this will turn out, but I genuinely believe we’ve done the skill that went into it justice. Innis & Gunn 1875 Arctic Ale is absolutely worth opening the bottle for – it’s one of the best beers we’ve ever made – and for those lucky enough to try it, it’s as close as you’ll ever get to tasting a piece of history.
“This project was about honouring Arctic Ale on its 150th anniversary and sharing an incredible story from brewing and maritime history with people today. We wanted to bring this lost beer back to life, not lock it away in a cupboard.”
The 1875 Arctic Ale, brewed using a recipe close to the original Allsopp’s brew with authentic period ingredients, is described as a ‘rich, robust beer’ that is strong, warming and designed to be sipped and savoured.
Only a limited quantity has been produced, with thousands entering a ballot for the chance to buy one of just 250 bottles available for purchase at £25. For those who missed out, the beer is now available on draught at Innis & Gunn Taprooms in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and at The Blue Stoops in London, an Allsopp’s pub.
Sharp paid tribute to brewing partner Jamie Allsopp, founder of the revived Allsopp’s Brewery and a direct descendant of the original Arctic Ale’s creators.
“I have to thank Jamie and Allsopp’s for coming on this voyage with us, and hopefully it won’t be the last.
“Working with the family behind the original Arctic Ale has added real depth and authenticity to the project. Together we’ve created a fitting tribute to a beer that has fascinated brewers and collectors for generations.”
With an alcohol strength of around 9% and around six times the calorie content of a modern beer, the original Arctic ale was designed to resist freezing while nourishing crews in brutal conditions. Brewing records from the period describe it as thick, dark and ‘suggestive of old Madeira’, so dense it had to be lifted from the copper in buckets.
