THE last drink served on doomed liner Titanic may have been brewed in Wrexham.
Records suggest Wrexham Lager was drunk on board the tragic ship, which sank 100 years ago yesterday.
Titanic went down on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, having hit an iceberg just before midnight on April 14, 1912.
Wrexham Lager was known to ‘travel’ well and, in the early years, its popularity abroad far exceeded its take up at home.
Industrialist Robert Graesser, who bought the majority share in the fledgling brewery in 1886, secured major contracts with the Great Western Railway and the British Army.
But there were also contracts with shipping lines and it is believed the ‘Munich’ lager served on Titanic was actually made on Bradley Road.
Jonathan Gammond, of Wrexham Museum, said: “Some people say that Wrexham Lager was stocked in the bar on Titanic.
“Wrexham Lager produced a huge range of lagers under different labels and one source told me the lager on the Titanic was a 'Munich style lager' that was brewed by the Wrexham lager brewery.
“Some of the last alcohol drunk on Titanic in the classiest last chance saloon ever was probably made just up the road.”
Surviving copies of the last lunch menu from Titanic, one of which made £76,000 at auction in March, show passengers were served ‘Iced draught Munich lager beer’.
Mark Roberts, who relaunched the Wrexham Lager brand in 2011, said the Wrexham connection was a “widely held belief” in the company.
The Golden Lion, in High Street, Wrexham, serves the brew and the Titanic link is also noted on a blackboard in the bar.
Mr Roberts said: "I believe somewhere in the Wrexham Lager archives it says the White Star Line was supplied by Wrexham Lager.
"Mr Graesser travelled to America on a White Star liner in 1890 and took a barrel of Wrexham Lager with him.
“It went down very well in America and the shipping companies quickly cauight on that it was travelling so well and decided to put it on all their ships."
Mr Roberts said Wrexham Lager also supplied the Cunard Steamship Company which merged with the White Star Line in the 1930s.
The brewery continued to supply Cunard until 1980.
Mr Roberts said when Wrexham Lager was taken over by bigger companies the archives were spread out.
"Some were given to universities and museums, some were kept and locked away so that no one knows what's in them.
"It's another part of the history of the company that needs telling and shows how popular it was.”
He added: "We're brewing a similar style of beer to what was on that ship. As long as we don't go down the same way!"