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Budweiser Moves Forward with Plans to Brew Beer in Space

Sam Slaughter
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Budweiser/Facebook
The newest brewing milestone seemed written in the stars to belong to the largest beer company in the world. After its initial announcement at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival earlier this year, Budwesier is moving forward with its plans to be the first to brew beer in space.

On December 4, 2017, Budweiser will be launching barley into space aboard a SpaceX CRS-13 rocket, kickstarting the research on microgravity brewing in order to eventually make beer on Mars.

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Budweiser will not be tackling this astronomic feat alone. The Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, and Space Tango, a payload development company that operates two commercial research facilities within the National Lab, will also participate.

Two experiments are planned for 20 barley seeds: The first experiment will focus on barley seed exposure and the second will explore barley germination. Once the barley has reached the International Space Station (ISS), it will stay in orbit for approximately one month before coming down to be analyzed.

“Budweiser is always pushing the boundaries of innovation and we are inspired by the collective American Dream to get to Mars,” Ricardo Marques, vice president of Budweiser, said in a statement. “We are excited to begin our research to brew beer for the red planet.”

However, Budweiser’s beer won’t be the first to leave Earth. In 2015, Ninkasi Brewing introduced Ground Control, an imperial stout that was created using yeast that had been on a trip to space and back. As of 2015, Australian company 4 Pines Beer was also at work on a space beer, Vostok, which was meant to be enjoyed in zero gravity, but plans seem to have been aborted. (For the whisky fans, Ardbeg has also experimented with shooting its whisky into space.)

If you’re interested in watching the Budweiser launch, it can be viewed live on December 4 via the SpaceX Website. Afterwards, why not visit a dark sky preserve to really get your space on?

Feature image courtesy of Budweiser/Facebook.

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