Sunken ship not safe place to stash beer

Thieves have stolen 1,000 pints of beer that were left to age in the wreckage of a sunken ship off the coast of Argentina.

Three local breweries had hidden the limited-edition beer in the remains the fishing vessel last November, according to the Daily Mail.

But 131 gallons of the beer were found missing last week when divers went to retrieve the barrels.

The stolen beer belonged to three breweries – Heller, La Paloma and Baum. It’d been hidden in the wreckage of a Soviet-era fishing vessel, Kronomether, which found its way to Argentina after being abandoned following the end of the USSR.

Eduardo Ricardo, one of the owners of Heller Brewery, hit on the idea after hearing about similar projects elsewhere, says the Daily Mail..

After being retrieved from the seabed, it was intended to be blended with another drink before being bottled up and sold.

“The dreams of brewing beer at the bottom of the ocean have gone. They didn’t only steal the barrels, they stole the hopes of businessmen and wage-earners who have not had a good year,” says Carlos Brelles, owner of the Thalassa Diving School.

“I guess we are talking about two or three people that were behind this that travelled to a sunken ship and after diving 20 metres, stole the barrels.” Brelles participated in the initial dive last November.

The organisers said it took more than a year to get the permits, saying they were devastated at the loss of 2,000 bottles that would have gone on sale.