162-year-old Guinness

Bottles of Guinness dating back to 1864 have been found on a shipwreck about 5km off the coast of Dover – and now the explorers want to “rebrew” the stout. 

Up to 20 bottles of stout were discovered by a team of divers exploring the wreckage of the Mindora sailing barque last summer, but only recently have they acquired a survey report linking the cargo to a recorded ship of that time. 

Since making the discovery, Stefan Panis, an expedition diver who made the discovery, and Paweł Truszynski, a technical diver and historical researcher, have begun what they call “Project Jurassic Beer”. 

Truszynski said they have enlisted the help of Kevin Verstrepen, professor of microbiology and genetics at Leuven University in Brussels, in an attempt to rebrew the Guinness to mimic exactly how it would have tasted in 1864. 

Verstrepen said it is not likely they can retrieve living yeast cells from the bottles – though they will try. In that case, he will take a “modern sibling” of the original yeast, once the DNA is analysed, to get as close as possible. 

Truszynski said if they succeed in their quest to “rebrew” the old Guinness, “we will unlock a form of liquid time travel”. 

The group also contacted the Guinness Archive team at St James’s Gate in Dublin, Ireland to cross-reference their findings, he said. 

A spokesperson for Diageo Ireland said the Guinness Archive team “have been in communication with the divers to gather more information and evaluate the find”. 

“Discoveries like this provide a fascinating window into our past and help build a deeper understanding of our heritage”.  

The bottles were discovered resting in the ship’s cargo under temperatures of 4 degrees, constant high pressure and absolute darkness – perfect conditions for preservation. 

The Mindora, which collided with another vessel off the coast of Dover on November 27, 1864, had set sail from London to Vancouver, Canada a week earlier. Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which oversee the Lloyd’s Register of Ships from 1764 to 1999, could not officially confirm the site, as the divers did not make the discovery in conjunction with the foundation. 

However, digitised links to the survey report for a ship called “Mindoro”, likely to be the Mindora, were sent by the foundation to the divers upon request. The report was written up on September 3rd, 1864, with the surveyor having first visited the ship on November 17, 1863. 

Zach Schieferstein, archivist with Lloyd’s Register Foundation, said discrepancies in the records of ship names were not uncommon in the 19th century. 

As per The Irish Times report published August 05, 2026.

The Guinness Challenge

Bars across UK, even Irish ones, are reporting limited supplies of the black stuff since Guinness owner Diageo announced earlier this month that they were experiencing “exceptional consumer demand”.

 

The Times even reported that the shortage of the staple in pubs for centuries was encouraging “panic buying” – worsening supplies. 

 

TBH, this situation shouldn't have come as a surprise. At Diageo’s results in January, a rare bright spot amid sluggish sales of their core spirits brands was last year's surge in the popularity of Guinness, the dark, creamy liquid, traditionally seen as the drink of choice for rugby fans and middle-aged men with beards, which became the UK’s favorite beer.

 

According to Financial Times on July 06, 2024, Guinness sales in Europe rose 24 percent, driven largely by drinkers in the UK and Ireland, while sales of non-alcoholic Guinness 0.0 more than doubled.  

 

Chief executive Debra Crew credited social media “Guinnfluencers” – including Kim Kardashian (right), who posted a photo of herself with the famed Irish stout on Instagram – as key to the brand’s success, declaring consumption was up 24 percent among women, with growth driven largely by consumers aged 25-45 in the UK and Ireland. 

 

Guinness's UK marketing director Anna MacDonald admitted Diageo had done nothing specifically to target women. Instead she credited a simple shift in how the team targeted their media spend to appeal to all consumers, not just the older male that was once their core. 

 

It has been widely claimed that pubs in London’s Soho now teem with cool young drinkers of the stout, in an echo of the US hipster appropriation of blue-collar beers such as Pabst Blue Ribbon and Michelob. In June, designer JW Anderson even showed a collection of Guinness branded jumpers on the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week. 

 

And a viral craze online called “Split the G” has also apparently helped push sales.

 

Note: Pub goers can't agree on the right way to do the Guinness Challenge where you drink your pint, you reckon the line between the Guinness word and the head has gone down to the right spot. 

 

People can agree you're supposed to pick up your pint of Guinness and keep drinking in one go until you think you've reached the right spot with no pauses or tilts to check your progress.

 

But pub goers can't seem to agree where the right spot is. 

 

When it comes to this crucial debate, most people are split into two camps over the right way to do the Guinness Challenge. Some people are "split the G" die hards, meaning they reckon a successful Guinness Challenge is one where you get the line between stout and head in the middle of the 'G' in Guinness. If you're going that way then you have to be extra precise, getting your pint down to the halfway point in the 'G' so it artistically bisects the letters on the side of your pint glass.

 

And the "split the G" crowd faces stiff competition from the people who reckon the right way to pull off the Guinness Challenge is to drink until your line is between the top of the G and the bottom of the harp. 

 

It's another fine line to tread but they think it's the right way to do the challenge, and given the lack of room to manoeuvre, it's not much easier than perfectly splitting the G. 

 

I guess until this issue is settled one way or another, the pubs will continue to be filled with friendly arguments. Anyway, Guinness won't be unhappy as long as pub goers keep on drinking Guinness. For all they care, these Guinness drinkers can argue until the cows come home.

Welsh Drinker Breaks Guinness World Record

A dedicated drinker in Wales broke a Guinness World Record by visiting 56 different pubs in less than 24 hours and having at least one beverage at each. 

Guinness announced 29-year-old Gareth Murphy, of Caernarfon, drank at 56 Cardiff pubs on February 05, breaking the record of 51 pubs set by Englishman Matt Ellis in 2021 (and which is covered by my post “An Englishman's Epic Pub Crawl” published October 14, 2021). 

The record-keeping organization's rules required Murphy to have a drink at each pub, but the beverages were not required to be alcoholic. 

Murphy said he did have some beer during his attempt, but his drinks also included orange juice, apple juice, Coca-Cola, lemonade, Diet Pepsi and cranberry juice. 

"I knew I had to stay off the Guinness as it's quite a heavy drink. I did have a beer in a few select pubs, but I knew I couldn't overdo it as I knew the fizz would immediately make me bloated", Murphy told Guinness World Records. 

He said the record attempt led to an increasing number of bathroom breaks over the course of the day. "I lost count of how many toilet breaks I took. At the beginning it was minimal, once every 10 pubs say, but by the end, I think I was going once every two or three pubs", he said. 

Murphy said the record attempt was "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life"!

Vegan Leather Made From Mangoes

Ready or not, veganism is getting into the mainstream. And it does seem that more and more people are joining the plant-based movement. 

In fact, people cite one or more of three key motives for going vegan – animal welfare, environmental concerns and personal health – and this is accompanied by an endless array of new business startups, cookbooks, YouTube channels, trendy events and polemical documentaries (“advocacy films”). 

A sample of the ever-growing range of vegan products. Image credit: Jill Mead/The Guardian 

It is said the traditional food industry is already desperately trying to catch up with the flourishing grassroots demand. 

If you don't already know, Guinness have gone vegan when they stopped using fish bladders in their brewing process, after two and a half centuries. 

In the UK, restaurant chain, Wagamama have introduced a vegan menu. Pizza Hut have joined Pizza Express and Zizzi in offering vegan pizzas. Marks & Spencer and Pret a Manger have introduced vegan ranges. And Tesco have a position called director of plant-based innovation. 

The latest is a company in the Netherlands that are utilizing what would otherwise be wasted food to create vegan leather. That food is a fruit we know of as mango (Scientific name: Mangifera indica).

Fruitleather Rotterdam receive free leftover mangoes from the quality control sector of a Dutch fruit company and breaks it down to a puree to be turned into a durable, cruelty-free leather alternative:

 

What will they think of next?

Slowly and steadily, it looks like the world is embracing a plant-based lifestyle. I suppose that promotes sustainability and it can only be good for the battered and beleagured world.

Guinness Guilt

I am feeling a wee bit guilty. I am a Carlsberg drinker – by choice! Besides the fact that Carlsberg is a great beer, it is also because I support Liverpool. Why? Carlsberg is the shirt sponsor of Liverpool FC. So I must confess that last night, while I did crave for a Carlsberg … well, for a whole 6 seconds anyway… I still enjoyed my Guinness nonetheless…

But I know that many people are put off by their first taste of Guinness as the bitter, burnt flavor can take getting used to. Guinness is an acquired taste. I remembered my first drink of Guinness, and it tasted horrible. After that, I resisted the urge to drink it again – all the while preferring my beer. I recalled a Bentong friend, mixing Guinness and Anchor (those days, Anchor was a big beer brand) – to make it easier to drink, and gradually, I could drink the stout beer on its own. In fact, these days, I quite enjoy Guinness, particularly ice-cold Guinness. Actually, all it takes is to ignore that initial shock of bitterness from the first sip, but once you let the creamy goodness envelop your palate – the stout just flows smoothly down your parched throat and you can fully savor the full-bodied taste of Guinness. Well, at least, that’s what I experience anyway.

Okay, to assuage any residue of guilt feelings that I might still have as a result of my Guinness indulgence yesterday – I am posting two of my favorite Carlsberg commercials:

250 Years of Guinness

Kuala Lumpur has been selected as the sole Asian location to host the landmark Arthur’s Day celebration in conjunction with Guinness’ 250th anniversary and as a toast to brand founder Arthur Guinness. After all, the Guinness brand first came to Malaysia in 1880 while the brewery, which was the first brewery outside Ireland, was set up here in 1965. Malaysia remains one of the most important markets for Guinness stout and was ranked in the top 10 in Asia in terms of stout consumption.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I attended the 250th Anniversary Dinner at the Mines Convention Center, Kuala Lumpur. The crowd was mostly Chinese and “older” – honestly, not really my type of crowd! Still there was dinner, music and entertainment, and of course, Guinness.

The Guinness person on my right is Rachel, a HELP University College Business student. Fancy meeting her at this event.

Still on Guinness, I came across this Guinness TV ad and I loved it. So enjoy...

Back to football – there’s a match involving Arsenal tonight. It is now expected that the Gunners will be in full throttle to clinch another win against Portsmouth. No wonder they go in to the match as favorites. And the Gunners did win, defeating Portsmouth 4-1; the goals coming from Diaby (18, 21); Gallas (51); and Ramsey (68).