In the hallowed halls of a crowded bottle shop, it can almost seem as though there are more craft beers on the market than there are stars in the sky. Still, you may want to make an effort to seek out Ground Control, a brew that’s truly—no, literally—stellar.
Ninkasi Brewing Company, based in Eugene, OR, founded the Ninkasi Space Program (NSP) in 2014 in an effort to push the (outer) limits of brewing. The goal? To send yeast to space, recover it, and use it to brew some delicious beer.
This April 13th, Ninkasi will release the fruits of NSP’s labor. Ground Control is an Imperial Stout, brewed with Oregon hazelnuts, star anise, and cocoa nibs, plus Apollo, Bravo, and Comet hops. And, yes, space yeast.
Like any mission to space, the journey to the final frontier was not without its hiccups. Ninkasi’s first attempt, Mission One, launched from Black Rock desert in Nevada in July 2014, but after the payload hit the ground nine miles from its intended landing site, the yeast sat undiscovered for 27 days.
Notoriously fickle, yeast can only survive within a fairly narrow temperature range. As you might have imagined, 27 days in the Nevada desert fell outside those bounds. Mission One’s sacrifice was not in vain, though. NSP regrouped and re-launched in October 2014, this time with the help of UP Aerospace–a Denver-based company dealing in private spaceflight–in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The rocket, SpaceLoft-9, soared to 408,035ft (77.3 miles) above Earth with six vials of yeast onboard.
Four minutes of weightlessness in the exosphere later, the yeast coasted back to the ground, where it was recovered by the NSP team and transported back to Oregon, tested, and deemed viable for brewing.
And so, Ground Control was born.
A few minutes in space doesn’t technically change the yeast’s properties. Ground Control is not supercharged by solar radiation, and it won’t turn you into a Romulan*. But there are plenty of brewers who struggle to keep yeast alive here on the ground, so launching six vials into space, bringing them back unharmed and brewing a commercially available beer is quite the feat. And space beer, if nothing else, is quite the conversation starter.
Ground Control will be available in 22 oz limited edition bottles for just under $20 in Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Vancouver, B.C., as well limited availability in New York, Washington, D.C. and at select events. Get it while you can because it’s a limited, one-time release—this batch is just 55 barrels, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. At least, until the next time Ninkasi decides to send a rocketful of yeast into space.
So cheers, fellow terrans, and may you taste the stars when you sample the world’s first space-aged brew.
*Probably.
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