Divers have found a handful of bottles of beer that has been preserved in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea since the 19th century, Finnish media reported.
The valuable collection of drinks is not the first to be recovered from the wreck off Finland's Aland Islands. Earlier this year, 70 bottles of what may be the world's oldest drinkable champagne were salvaged.
"At the present moment, we believe these bottles are the oldest ones in the world. It looks like we saved not only the oldest champagne in the world, but also the oldest beer," said Rainer Juslin, spokesman for the local government of Aland.
The constant temperatures and low light levels in the ship, which is resting at a depth of around 50 meters, created the ideal storage conditions for the beer. Underwater pressure has not allowed sea water to get into the bottles.
Experts have not yet estimated the value of the find.
The date of shipwreck still remains a mystery. Scientists suggest that it could be a Nordic sailing ship which sank in the early 19th century while sailing to the Gulf of Finland from Gdansk in Poland or Copenhagen in Denmark. Some believe the ship was destined for the Russian imperial court.
RIA Novosti
