ALE for SAIL 2011 is a fantastic attempt to replicate one of the brewing world’s great adventures

ALE for SAIL 2011 is a fantastic attempt to replicate one of the brewing world’s great adventures.

From the heart of London to the centre of Saint Petersburg… this has to be the most epic journey a drayman has made for 200 years!”

Brilliant Beer’s Tim O’Rourke is the man behind the initiative take Imperial Stouts to St Petersburg in Russia.

The Ale4Sail Great Baltic Adventure – www.thegreatbalticadventure.com – is an ambitious attempt not just to recreate the epic sea journey made by beers from England to Russia in the 18^th century, but to promote British cask beers at festivals in Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen.

The plan is to take 12 specially brewed Imperial Russian Stouts, each produced by a different brewer, all the way to Saint Petersburg, where they will be judged in a beer festival on 18 June to find out which stout is fit for the Court of Catherine the Great.

The 12 Imperial Stouts making the journey will be announced later this month.

The sea journey starts on 15 May from Greenwich and arrives in St Petersburg on 17 June.

Tim O’Rourke says he is looking for people to crew the Thermopylae Clipper which will undertake the journey. “We have chartered a former 60 foot round the world Clipper Thermopylae. This fantastic yacht has already circumnavigated the world four times in the Clipper Round the World Races so should see us safely to Saint Petersburg.”

The passage includes on board food and safety and wet weather equipment as well as a professional skipper and two professional watch leaders.

The passage will take five weeks with stopovers in a major city every Saturday when we will be able to change crew. There will be stops at intermediate ports on the way round.

Participants will be able to take part in Beer Festivals at all the Major Ports:

London – Beer Festival in the Old Brewery – Greenwich – 12 – 15 May

Copenhagen Beer Festival – Beer festival in Charlie’s Bar -27 – 29 May with a chance to visit and have lunch at Carlsberg’s Jacobson’s Brewery.

Stockholm – Beer festival in Oliver Twist & Akkurat Restaurant for the week commencing 3^rd June

Helsinki – To be arranged – 10 – 12 June

Saint Petersburg – To be arranged 17 – 19 June and there will be the judging of all the Imperial Russian Stout by a panel of brewers including Russian brewers.

To join for all or a part of the voyage please contact tim@brilliantbeer.com or register on line at www.thegreatbalticadventure.com

Imperial Stout, also known as Russian Imperial Stout or Imperial Russian Stout, is a strong dark beer or stout in the style that was brewed in the 18th century in London, for export to the Court of Catherine II of Russia.

From then, and right through the First World War, Imperial Russian Stout was shipped to the Baltic, often in large wooden barrels called hogsheads, containing 54 gallons of beer, where it was bottled by a company called Le Coq and sold in St Petersburg and other Russian cities.

Originally brewed by the Thrale’s brewery in London the beer later became known as Barclay Perkins Imperial Brown Stout. When the Barclay Perkins brewery was taken over by Courage the beer was renamed Courage Imperial Russian Stout. It used to be sold in Britain in small nip sized 17cl bottles.

Imperial Stouts often have an alcohol content of nine or ten per cent ABV. In the early 20^th century the beer was awarded the Royal Warrant of the Court of Catherine II of Russia for donating 5,000 bottles to various hospitals in which the Empress had taken an interest.