Beer connoisseur drinks coronation ale from 1952

About 500 bottles of Greene King's coronation ale were kept in the brewery's cellar for nearly 50 years

A beer connoisseur has finally opened a 72-year-old coronation ale, which he said tasted like "Christmas cake".

Roger Protz, a beer writer from St Albans, Hertfordshire, was gifted the bottle 12 years ago by Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

The ale was brewed in 1952 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II the following year.

Mr Protz said: "It tasted delicious - like Christmas cake, molasses, liquorish; biscuity."

Roger Protz is an established beer writer, formerly working with Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)

According to the tag around the bottle neck, about 500 bottles of the coronation ale were put aside in the network of cellars below the brewery.

They were rediscovered in 2001 during an examination of the building's foundations, but due to flooding, the original labels were ruined and some bottle tops had rusted.

"They thought the beer would probably be undrinkable," said Mr Protz, who then popped it in his own cellar at home.

Greene King attached a tag to the discovered bottles with information on their history

"I forgot about it until... last year's coronation [of King Charles III].

"To my astonishment, it had three caps on it, which obviously kept it in a safe condition and all those years later, it was still very, very drinkable."

Mr Protz, who formerly wrote for the Campaign for Real Ale, said the beer was likely to have been "bottle conditioned", where yeast and sugar is added during bottling to trigger a second fermentation.

"[The bottle] was less than half a pint - what used to be called a nip - indicating a very strong ale," said Mr Protz. "I would say from my experience it was very strong, about 12% alcohol."

When discovered in the cellar, head brewer John Bexon insisted on carrying out an analysis on the ale