So I've just found a 33 year old unopened bottle of Guinness

the purple tin

You must have the cleanest cow shed in Ireland op!

BarryD2

NIMAN wrote: »

I'm guessing a dose of the sh1ts might be likely.

More than likely - if it was 33 old Jameson you'd be grand but not enough alcohol in beer I think to keep it good that long. If it still has a bit of gas in it, might be ok but if flat..hmm.

BeerNut

STB. wrote: »

Something that could manifest itself in the bottle if it wasn't airtight.

Are the worm eggs already in there but dormant without oxygen, or do they get in once the cap is no longer airtight?

Nordydave

Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!

Tired Gardener

My biggest question is how the bloody hell did it get unnoticed for that length of time?

As for what to do with it, personally I'd leave it unopened and see if it has any value sold to collectors or the local pub as curiosity.

DellyBelly

imfml wrote: »

Call the Ray D'Arcy show he loves stuff like this

Funnily enough these are the kind of topics that he does excel on. I like when he has random or bizarre pieces on his show. On more serious things he's not the greatest...

kevcos

The auld lad drank I think a ten year old can of Guinness once, didn't knock a stir out of him.

Peregrinus

It will be rancid. It's an unpasteurised fermented product and is only good for about six weeks.

(The canned stuff is pasteurised.)

prawnsambo

STB. wrote: »

Something that could manifest itself in the bottle if it wasn't airtight.


Guinness Extra Stout was unfiltered and unpasteurized until the 90s I believe.

Afaik, that's when they stopped bottling it with live yeast still present in the beer. Back in the day, if you were trying to make home brew Guinness, you'd use the yeast cultured from a pint bottle of Guinness to get the taste right. Which raises the question as to whether it was present in half pint bottles. Or whether there just wasn't enough in that volume.

The point about yeast being present is that it would continue to ferment (albeit slowly) in the bottle which would produce the carbon dioxide that gives that bit of fizz. So as a poster above suggests, if there's a release of carbon dioxide when you open it, you know that (a) the seal is good and (b) the beer should be as well. It will probably be stronger than intended as well. But alcohol is a preservative (as is sugar), so I'd say drink it.

As an example, I found some bottled Budweiser (a copy based on the original Czech recipe that I'd brewed myself) in my shed a couple of years ago. I'm fairly sure that I'd brewed and bottled it around 15-20 years previously. It still had fizz, was clear as crystal and tasted lovely. So there's that. A couple of bottles didn't fizz when opened and I just threw that out. It would have been bottled with yeast present as well.

irish_goat

Peregrinus wrote: »

It's an unpasteurised fermented product and is only good for about six weeks.

(The canned stuff is pasteurised.)

Unpasteurised beer has a far longer shelf life than 6 weeks.

Peregrinus

irish_goat wrote: »

Unpasteurised beer has a far longer shelf life than 6 weeks.

Depends on the style of beer (lagers last longer, for example) and on the manner in which it is stored (refrigeration extends shelf life).

Not sure, off the top of my head, when Guiness started filtering the bottle product to remove yeast, but I'm reasonably confident that it was less than 33 years ago, so this is a live yeasty unpasteurised stout, stored in unrefrigerated conditions. I don't think we're looking at a great deal longer than six weeks.

BeerNut

Peregrinus wrote: »

lagers last longer, for example

Huh? Cellarable beer tends to be strong and dark, because the flaws will be less apparent. The hallmarks of ageing are oxidation (staleness, cardboard, sherry) and autolysis (soy sauce, Bovril). With an imperial stout or barley wine these effects will either be hidden or add a desireable complexity. The only lagers this will improve are again strong and dark ones, like say Samichlaus.

Peregrinus wrote: »

Not sure, off the top of my head, when Guiness started filtering the bottle product to remove yeast

In Ireland, 2000. Longer ago in GB.

Peregrinus wrote: »

I don't think we're looking at a great deal longer than six weeks.

Live yeast makes the beer last longer as it removes oxygen. It's luck of the draw how much or how bad the autolysis will be. In general, if you want a beer to still be drinkable after 5 years+, make sure there's live yeast in the bottle.

Rob2D

Call up the storehouse in Dublin. They might be interested in keeping it for display someday.

enda1

BeerNut wrote: »

Huh? Cellarable beer tends to be strong and dark, because the flaws will be less apparent. The hallmarks of ageing are oxidation (staleness, cardboard, sherry) and autolysis (soy sauce, Bovril). With an imperial stout or barley wine these effects will either be hidden or add a desireable complexity. The only lagers this will improve are again strong and dark ones, like say Samichlaus.

In Ireland, 2000. Longer ago in GB.

Live yeast makes the beer last longer as it removes oxygen. It's luck of the draw how much or how bad the autolysis will be. In general, if you want a beer to still be drinkable after 5 years+, make sure there's live yeast in the bottle.

So, should he drink it or not? Any predictions on how it'll taste?

Mac-Chops

Only 25 odd years old but myself and my Da had one of these each recently after he dug them out from some old kitchen cabinets and not a bother on it.

He had already cracked one of them open before any conversation came up about what else to do with it.

Ryath

Seems they were just given to employees's were probably actually worth a few bob!

Hodors Appletart

There's a 40 year old bottle of Macardle's in my father-in-law's house it's a bit of a family joke at this stage

I recently found some homebrew of my own that I'd brewed a good 6 or 7 years ago as a double ipa it had matured into a crystal clear pretty good tasting barley wine

Mac-Chops

Ryath wrote: »

Seems they were just given to employees's were probably actually worth a few bob!

I'd say he reckons he got enough out of them after 45 odd years!

Anything other than drinking it would have been nonsense.

BeerNut

enda1 wrote: »

So, should he drink it or not?

That's up to the OP. The most dangerous thing in any beer no matter what age will always be the alcohol.

enda1 wrote: »

Any predictions on how it'll taste?

Musty cardboard, with some sherry if you're lucky.

Gaspode

onrail wrote: »

Found today in a cattle shed. So many questions:

• Is it likely to give me superpowers if I take a slug?
  
• Does it contain the ghost of Paddy Kavanagh?
  
• Will it kill every living thing within a 2 mile radius if opened?

Only time will tell....

#1: No

#2: No such thing as ghosts, so also no.

#3: No

As a food safety expert I can be pretty sure that beer doesn't support the growth of dangerous bacteria, but from my own experience with a bottle of Guinness that was 8 years out of date I can tell you it will absolutely taste like pure sh1te. Bin it.

pburns

I have an unopened keg from the early 90s.

nthclare

Put it in a knapsack sprayer add ten litres of water and it'll kill every weed on the driveway...

JJJJNR

OP was in the same situation a few years ago (father is ex guinness) I found an unopened and undamaged case of large bottles and I opened and drank one, it'll run right through you and out the back door but it'll taste fine as did that one.

Mike Litoris

A dose of the bum squirts is the worst that could happen. Drink it!

Mike Litoris

Mike Litoris wrote: »

A dose of the bum squirts is the worst that could happen. Drink it!

Nothing wrong with a good bumsplosion every once in a while anyway.

dulpit

If all comes to pass, then head here: https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057970654/1

koutoubia

Ryath wrote: »

Seems they were just given to employees's were probably actually worth a few bob!

I have something like this but just has the one bottle.
It was given to my late father on his retirement in 1995.
Always thought it may be worth opening it just to see but just couldnt bring myself to do it!

archer22

enda1 wrote: »

So, should he drink it or not? Any predictions on how it'll taste?

Beginning to look like he may have..not a peep out of the OP since.

I think it's time to send best wishes for a speedy recovery, thoughts and prayers etc.

Pauliedragon

archer22 wrote: »

Beginning to look like he may have..not a peep out of the OP since.

I think it's time to send best wishes for a speedy recovery, thoughts and prayers etc.

Hopefully it's not worse and we need a go fund me for a funeral. Stay with us OP.

STB.

Gaspode wrote: »

As a food safety expert I can be pretty sure that beer doesn't support the growth of dangerous bacteria, but from my own experience with a bottle of Guinness that was 8 years out of date I can tell you it will absolutely taste like pure sh1te. Bin it.

Well as a food safety expert, you'd know why there are requirements to have BBF dates in the first instance and Guinness is treated in the same way as food.

The Guinness Extra Stout this lad has uncovered is from a time that it was both unfiltered and unpasteurised. It doesn't have a high alcohol content (like the Foreign Extra stuff of 7.5% of old) so the live yeast is no longer alive. It will have altered the taste significantly though.

I am guessing its going to be vinegary at best.

archer22 wrote: »

Beginning to look like he may have..not a peep out of the OP since.

I think it's time to send best wishes for a speedy recovery, thoughts and prayers etc.

Possibly no internet coverage in the jacks.