Oz Clarke and James May taste world's most expensive beer

Wine writer Oz Clarke and Top Gear's James May recently tasted the world's most expensive beer at the Carlsberg brewery in Northampton. The pair...

Wine writer Oz Clarke and Top Gear's James May recently tasted the world's most expensive beer at the Carlsberg brewery in Northampton.

The pair tasted Carlsberg's Jacobsen Vintage No.1 — a barley wine with a 10.5% abv — as part of their TV series — Oz and James drink to Britain.

In 2008 the Jacobsen brewhouse set a new world record with the most expensive beer sold at the price of £240.56 (2008 Danish Kroner) a bottle. Only 600 bottles have been brewed.

Vintage No.1 has been matured in J.C. Jacobsen's original crypt-like cellar, for six months in new Swedish and new French oak barrels.

"The project started as a wild idea and a wish to create a new type of beer that had never been seen before," said Jacobsen head brewer Jens Eiken.

"During the ageing process in new barrels, lots of chemical processes take place. Not all reactions are known but they taste wonderful."

The TV show airs every Tuesday at 8pm on BBC2. The Jacobsen Vintage No.1 appears in episode five on 3 February.