{"id":14698,"date":"2019-03-18T16:48:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T16:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/18\/shipwreck-yeast-becomes-new-york-brew\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:05:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:05:43","slug":"shipwreck-yeast-becomes-new-york-brew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/03\/18\/shipwreck-yeast-becomes-new-york-brew\/","title":{"rendered":"Shipwreck yeast becomes New York brew"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ALBANY, N.Y. \u2014 The most distinguishing feature of Jamie Adams\u2019 new ale isn\u2019t its hoppy bite but its compelling backstory \u2014 brewed from yeast in bottles of beer that went down on a doomed steamship and languished on the ocean floor for 131 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some who lined up to sample a swig of the new Deep Ascent ale<\/a> at a craft beer festival last weekend say it provided a refreshing taste of another era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Just the concept that they could bring a beer bottle up from the bottom of the ocean … then be able to extract the yeast from it, that kind of chemistry is fascinating,” says beer enthusiast Peter Bowe of Schenectady. “And the beer is absolutely fantastic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams, a former Wall Street trader who opened Saint James Brewery in Long Island<\/a> nearly two decades ago, says his beer grew out of his love of scuba diving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was brewed with yeast extracted from bottles he and fellow divers salvaged from the SS Oregon, a luxury liner from Liverpool to New York that collided with a schooner and sank off Fire Island in 1886.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It lies 135 feet deep in an underwater cemetery known to local divers as Wreck Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful shipwreck to dive,” says Adams, 44, “I came up with the idea to make some beer if we came up with some intact bottles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A diver explores the wreck of the SS Oregon off the coast of Long Island in New York. (Tom McCarthy\/East Coast Wreck Diving via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He enlisted a team of divers in 2015 to search for bottles but didn\u2019t hit pay dirt until 2017, after storms shifted sands and made the first-class dining room accessible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They dug down 15 feet in the sea bed to gain access, and then another six feet inside the ship to find a half-dozen bottles upside-down, corks intact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later dives found 20 more bottles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams cultured the yeast in test tubes with the help of a microbiologist friend and then spent the next two years brewing test batches to get just the right taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with hops and malted barley, yeast is a key factor in producing a beer’s flavor and character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During fermentation, the microorganism eats sugar and creates alcohol as well as chemical compounds called esters that impart distinct fruity and floral flavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may seem like a lot of effort to come up with a new beer, but shipwrecks have long held a special fascination for craft brewers eager to recreate a taste of history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1991, a British brewer used yeast salvaged from a barge that sank in 1825 in the English Channel to create Original Flag Porter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last summer, Australian craft brewer James Squire released The Wreck-Preservation Ale, crafted using yeast from the merchant ship Sydney Cove, which ran aground in Tasmania in 1797.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Steamship Oregon, of the Cunard Line, between New York and Liverpool via Queenstown, Currier & Ives, 1884. (Library of Congress)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adams believes the yeast from the SS Oregon is descended from the lineage used by Bass Brewers in England to make a brand called King\u2019s Ale, which is no longer produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His said his new beer, which has a slightly fruity taste with a hoppy finish, is a “replication of what would have been served on that ship in 1886. We want people to have a small taste of what life was like as a passenger on this ship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\t