LEEDS, ENGLAND—The Drinks Business reports that while working at a construction site in central Leeds, researchers from Archaeological Services WYAS found more than 600 beer bottles stacked under a set of cellar stairs at the site of what had been the Scarborough Castle Inn. The bottles came from several brewers, but most are labeled “J.E. Richardson of Leeds,” according to archaeologist David Williams. The bottles are thought to date to the 1880s, he added. “This excavation is giving us a great opportunity to uncover a part of Georgian and Victorian Leeds,” Williams said. “The results so far are giving a real insight to the daily lives of the former residents of Leeds during this period.” Several of the beer bottles still contained liquid. Williams and his team members originally thought the liquid might have been ginger beer, but analysis showed that it contained alcohol and high levels of lead. Water used to make the beer is thought to have been contaminated by lead piping. To read about the discovery of an illicit whisky distillery in the forests of Scotland, go to “Still Standing.”
