Royal Society of Chemistry puts out call for Britain's oldest bottle of beer

Have you got bottles of beer from decades gone by gathering dust in the cellar? If so, then the Royal Society of Chemistry wants to hear from you.

In the run up to the Great British Beer Festival next month, the RSC is offering a reward to the person who can dig out an unopened bottle of beer which proves to be the oldest in the country.

The public has one month to submit their entries for consideration with the winner being awarded their £300 cash prize at next month's RSC public lecture on 10,000 years of beer at the Chemistry Centre, Burlington House, London.

On August 5, Professor Paul Hughes, Director of the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, is giving the 'Make Mine a Pint' lecture on the history of beer and the development of brewing processes.

Anybody owning a vintage beer should notify the RSC by calling 01223 432652. The RSC asks that no bottles be sent without prior agreement being reached and the RSC reserves the right to judge what bottles are acceptable.  

Photographic submissions at first can be made by email to Paul Gallagher or by hard copy to: Beer Competition, RSC Media Department, Thomas Graham House, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF.

The RSC will announce the winner of the competition, and publish the entries, on 5 August 2010. Deadline for entries, which should include full contact details, is 31 July 2010.