Would You Try a Beer Made from Space Ingredients?

One of the Pacific Northwest's best breweries has decided that this planet didn't have the proper ingredients for their next beer. So they went into outer space.

Ninkasi Brewing is located in Oregon, one of the biggest beer states in the United States. Standing out among breweries like Rogue, Deschutes, Cascade, Widmer, Hair of the Dog, and more takes a lot. So what do you do, aside from continuously making great beer?

Take it to the skies, man.

In 2014, the brewery’s co-founders embarked on a new kind of mission – the Ninkasi Space Program (NSP), with one ultimate goal: send brewer’s yeast to space, return it to Earth and use it to brew delicious craft beer. After a successful rocket launch in October 2014 from Spaceport America, Ninkasi is proud to introduce Ground Control, an Imperial Stout brewed with Oregon hazelnuts, star anise and cocoa nibs and fermented with an Ale yeast that survived a trip to space and back. Ground Control will be available April 13, 2015, in limited edition 22-ounce bottles at select retailers across the country.

In July, 2014, Mission One of NSP took flight as a rocket launched by the Civilian Space eXploration Team (CSXT) and Team Hybriddyne made its way to space, carrying 16 vials of brewer’s yeast. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the payload of yeast remained lost on the desert floor of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for 27 days, leaving the yeast not viable for brewing. In October, 2014, a second opportunity presented itself for Mission Two with private spaceflight corporation, UP Aerospace Inc.. This time, six vials of brewer’s yeast traveled 77.3 miles in altitude aboard a rocket, and returned safely to Earth. The result: healthy, hungry and viable yeast, ready for brewing. The yeast was cold-transported back to Ninkasi’s lab in Eugene, where it was propagated and tested before being used to ferment its first beer, Ground Control.

 

"Okay, great," you might be thinking. "But what's this gimmicky thing taste like?"

I'm glad you asked, you subtlely aggressive skeptic. And here's your answer!

This rich, complex Imperial Stout is brewed with Oregon hazelnuts, star anise and cocoa nibs, and fermented with an Ale yeast that survived a trip to space and back.

 

Welp, I'm in. Ninkasi makes its way to the Hudson Valley on occasion, so make sure to keep your eyes open at your favorite beer store for this gem. It hits stores April 13th.