140-Year-Old Bottle of Ale Brewed for Historic Expedition to the North Pole Is Discovered in an Unlikely Spot

Oh, the untapped windfalls that might be gathering dust right under your nose.

While sifting through a garage in Shropshire, about a 4-hour drive northwest of London, a British auctioneer ran into quite the rare find.

"I was working through boxes when I spotted the top of this bottle sticking out of one of them," the Trevanion and Dean auctioneer told the Telegraph.

Image source: the-saleroom.com

"It looked interesting, so I took a closer look — and, low and behold, there on the cap were the words 'Allsopp's Arctic Ale,' then embossed on the seal was 'Arctic Expedition 1875.'"

Image source: the-saleroom.com

The unopened bottle apparently was surplus cargo from the British Arctic Expedition, a failed attempt to reach the North Pole by Vice Admiral Sir George Nares, according to information detailing the item.

Sir George Nares (Image source: Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

While scurvy and poor equipment hampered the mission, the coastlines of Greenland and Ellesmere Island were mapped, and the channel between them was subsequently named "Nares Strait."

The Discovery in an ice-bound bay during the British Nares expedition of 1875-6 which was led by Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares. (Image source: Mitchell/London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images)

"I was gobsmacked," the auctioneer told the Telegraph. "You never know what you're going to come across in my business, but I certainly was not expecting to find this."

It's unclear how the bottle ended up in the garage, but the auction house said the owner inherited it. The item is expected to fetch between 400 and 600 British pounds — or about $600 to $900 — at a June 13 auction.

Members of a British expedition to the Arctic, led by the Scottish explorer Sir George Strong Nares (1831-1915). (Image source: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"What's incredible is that this bottle of beer made it all the way to the Arctic and all the way back again without being drunk," the auctioneer added.

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