Education
Aging whiskey is a particular process. Any number of factors — the type of wood used in the barrel, the temperature, the altitude — can alter the taste, flavor and alcohol content.
But even the most finicky barrel master might be hard-pressed to match the latest effort by Japanese beverage company Suntory. The company launched several whiskey samples into space last week, and the pouches of booze landed Monday at the International Space Station as part of a year-long maturation project.
In a statement issued when the company announced the project last month, Suntory said the experiment aims to determine if exposure to micro-gravity will allow the company to create a more mellow whiskey.
That plan doesn't make much sense to Steve Ury, an L.A-based whiskey expert who authors the popular blog Sku's Recent Eats.
“To most people what smooth means is reducing the alcoholic burn," he said. "What produces that is adding more water.”
It's fair to wager the space flight will have some effect on the aging process. When it's first distilled, whiskey is a clear liquid. Each batch gains most of its color and flavor from the aging process, Ury said, and like anything else, location can play a huge role.
Whiskeys aged in Scotland, for example, actually lose some of their alcohol content because of the country's high humidity. Aging in Kentucky, meanwhile creates a higher-proof batch because of the altitude. While the idea of "Whiskey ... In Space!" may sound like a B-movie sequel, Suntory isn't the first to try it. Ardbeg, a whiskey distillery based in Scotland, launched several samples into space in 2011 alongside U.S. research company NanoRacks.
Ury said he couldn't hazard a guess what, if any, effect space-aging might have on whiskey. But whatever the results are, they are unlikely to alter your everyday drink.
“To me, space barrel aging is sort of an absurdity. I don’t know what the effect will be at zero gravity on aging, but I’m not sure it matters," he said. "There's no practical way to keep aging your barrels in space."
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Education
Whiskey in space
Aging whiskey is a particular process. Any number of factors — the type of wood used in the barrel, the temperature, the altitude — can alter the taste, flavor and alcohol content.
But even the most finicky barrel master might be hard-pressed to match the latest effort by Japanese beverage company Suntory. The company launched several whiskey samples into space last week, and the pouches of booze landed Monday at the International Space Station as part of a year-long maturation project.
In a statement issued when the company announced the project last month, Suntory said the experiment aims to determine if exposure to micro-gravity will allow the company to create a more mellow whiskey.
That plan doesn't make much sense to Steve Ury, an L.A-based whiskey expert who authors the popular blog Sku's Recent Eats.
“To most people what smooth means is reducing the alcoholic burn," he said. "What produces that is adding more water.”
It's fair to wager the space flight will have some effect on the aging process. When it's first distilled, whiskey is a clear liquid. Each batch gains most of its color and flavor from the aging process, Ury said, and like anything else, location can play a huge role.
Whiskeys aged in Scotland, for example, actually lose some of their alcohol content because of the country's high humidity. Aging in Kentucky, meanwhile creates a higher-proof batch because of the altitude. While the idea of "Whiskey ... In Space!" may sound like a B-movie sequel, Suntory isn't the first to try it. Ardbeg, a whiskey distillery based in Scotland, launched several samples into space in 2011 alongside U.S. research company NanoRacks.
Ury said he couldn't hazard a guess what, if any, effect space-aging might have on whiskey. But whatever the results are, they are unlikely to alter your everyday drink.
“To me, space barrel aging is sort of an absurdity. I don’t know what the effect will be at zero gravity on aging, but I’m not sure it matters," he said. "There's no practical way to keep aging your barrels in space."
- How Black Holes Tick?
Black holes are incredibly massive, but cover only a small region. Because of the relationship between mass and gravity, this means they have an extremely powerful gravitational force. Virtually nothing can escape from them — under classical...
- The Drake Equation
"What do we need to know about to discover life in space?"How can we estimate the number of technological civilizations that might exist among the stars? While working as a radio astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green...
- Mitochondrion
The mitochondrion (plural mitochondria) is a membrane-enclosed structure found in most eukaryotic cells (the cells that make up plants, animals, fungi, and many other forms of life).[1] Mitochondria range from 0.5 to 1.0 micrometer (μm) in diameter....
- General Dynamics In History
This U.S company in now the fifth-largest defense contractor based on 2012 revenues, emerging from a number of mergers and takeovers. General Dynamics traces its origin to John Philip Holland's Holland Torpedo Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut....
- History Of The Black Hole Theory
A black hole in space has gravitational force so strong that nothing can escape from it, not even light. Hence no one can see a black hole astronomers are convinced they exist. John Michell, a British geologist and astronomer, designed the experiment...