Carlsberg Launches ‘Mermaid Porter’ to Celebrate 100 years of the Little Mermaid
One hundred years after Carlsberg’s forefather Carl Jacobsen donated the statue of the Little Mermaid to the city of Copenhagen, a new beer has been brewed to commemorate the occasion. The statue is now an internationally recognised icon of Denmark and a huge tourist attraction.
Carl Jacobsen’s love of art and admiration for Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale led to the donation of the statue to Denmark. Having seen a ballet performance based on the story, Jacobsen wanted to immortalise the aesthetics of the ballet and the magic of the fairytale.
Prima ballerina, Ellen Price, was chosen as the inspiration and muse for the sculptor Edvard Eriksen. Believing that art should be made available to everyone to embellish lives, Jacobsen donated the statue to the city, where she longingly keeps watch for her beloved.
And 100 years on, Carlsberg has brewed a celebratory beer to mark the occasion. Mermaid Porter takes its inspiration from the sea, and the limited edition Jacobsen beer has been brewed with 60 oysters and eight kilograms of samphire.
The Baltic style porter is bottom fermented, and with an ABV of ten per cent, the beer is rich in smoky malt flavours and liquorice bitterness.
Brewed to mature over time, one bottle of the limited edition brew will be kept to be served at the 200th anniversary of the Little Mermaid.
Morten Ibsen, Master Brewer at the Jacobsen brewery, says: “This is a really special beer and one that will live on into the future. It is remarkable to think that on the 200th anniversary, people will be able to toast the Little Mermaid using this beer.”
CAPTION:
Carl Jacobsen oversees the construction of the Little Mermaid (1913).
