Saturday, February 16, 2013

Don't Drink and Orbit

When you're a distiller, you experiment with the conditions that create your product. Does it age differently if you store it in different materials? If you add certain substances to the stored liquid, does it change the taste or the content?

And if you store it in space, does it mature differently?

Well, maybe not every distiller asks that question. But the Ardberg Distillery, makers of Scotch whiskey, did, and they currently have a batch of their product in orbit on board the International Space Station. Although it's not in an actual oak cask, it is being stored with oak chips of the same kind that makes up the casks. The same amount from the same original distillation is being stored and aged at Ardberg's own facility, and after a couple of years they will be measured against each other.

Ardberg has so far not addressed the rumor that this experiment is the first step towards the production of Romulan Ale.

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