Booze in SPAAACCCCEEE

Fuck Elon and his Mars fixation, this is serious work on the Final Frontier:

The brief documentary looks at three efforts involving alcohol and spaceflight. One is an effort involving French designers, working with champagne company Maison Mumm, to develop a champagne bottle and glass that can work in microgravity. A second involves Ninkasi Brewing, an Oregon microbrewery that flew yeast on sounding rockets for use to brew beer. The third features a partnership between Nanoracks and Ardbeg to fly terpenes, key compounds in scotch, on the International Space Station.

The film documents those efforts and the ups and downs (figurative and literal) each faced. The design of the champagne bottle required several versions that were tested on aircraft flying parabolic arcs to provide moments of zero-g. Ninkasi’s first attempt to fly yeast failed when they were not able to recover the amateur rocket in time. Ardbeg had to be convinced that Nanoracks was serious when that company offered last-minute accommodations on an ISS payload rack.

The film is best seen as showing the enthusiasm and creativity people show when considering the possibilities of alcohol and spaceflight rather than significant progress towards space spirits. Ninkasi was primarily motivated by the novelty of seeing of yeast that had flown, ever so briefly, in space, could be used to brew beer; as one brewer put it, they didn’t want something too different from what they normally brewed. (The space-flown yeast was used for “Ground Control” beer sold for a time by the brewery.) The terpenes flown in space were not significantly different from those on the ground, and one Ardbeg official noted that, if anything, the ones on the ground tested better. Had the space-flown version been significantly better, it might have posed other challenges, the company noted: regulations require scotch whisky to be aged for at least three years in Scotland, not space.

And of course the bourbon industry is on it:

In every generation a product sets the standard for exclusive luxury. Now that commercial production of space manufactured products has become attainable, we want to be the first into that new frontier. Mystic Galactic is the expression of our collective desire to rise above the bonds of earth and gravity. It is a liquid expression of the spirit of discovery… We’re as excited as you are to taste it. Only a few people will ever know. We will have barrels of the same spirit that will remain on earth, aging conventionally. We plan to release this bourbon under the label “Ground Control” at 100 proof, making it possible to compare Mystic Galactic with our conventionally aged bourbon in as close a comparison as possible.

Of course it’s North Carolina bourbon so inherently worthless, but I love the enthusiasm!