Slashdot Mirror
Aussie Brewery Creates Space Beer
astroengine writes "An Australian brewing company has created the world's first beer that can be consumed in space. 4-Pines Brewing Company teamed up with Saber Astronautics Australia, tirelessly testing different brews on zero-G flights last year. They have now finalized the winning formula, calling the beer 'Vostok' — after the spacecraft flown by Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The beverage is a strong-tasting stout with reduced carbonation to avoid the dreaded microgravity 'wet burp.'"
Makes me proud to be an Australian. Now there are no reasons why we can't colonize space - we can take our slabs of VB with us, all we need is a barbie (that's the device for cooking hunks of dead animals over flames, not the de-sexed doll) that is safe to use in zero gravity.
Crack a tinny, mate.
A beer to be drunk in space: now that is what I call limiting your market ;-)
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
Oh sure, invent space beer AFTER the last shuttle has launched. Way to fuck up the order of operations on that one guys!
(tongue firmly in cheek)
Beer (& Whiskey) open the way for civilization!
There was a recent discovery channel program called "How Beer Saved the World" and in Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain wrote
"How solemn and beautiful is the thought that the earliest pioneer of civilization, the van-leader of civilization, is never the steamboat, never the railroad, never the newspaper, never the Sabbath-school, never the missionary -- but always whiskey! Such is the case. Look history over; you will see. The missionary comes after the whiskey -- I mean he arrives after the whiskey has arrived; next comes the poor immigrant, with ax and hoe and rifle; next, the trader; next, the miscellaneous rush; next, the gambler, the desperado, the highwayman, and all their kindred in sin of both sexes; and next, the smart chap who has bought up an old grant that covers all the land; this brings the lawyer tribe; the vigilance committee brings the undertaker. All these interests bring the newspaper; the newspaper starts up politics and a railroad; all hands turn to and build a church and a jail -- and behold! civilization is established forever in the land. But whiskey, you see, was the van-leader in this beneficent work. It always is. It was like a foreigner -- and excusable in a foreigner -- to be ignorant of this great truth, and wander off into astronomy to borrow a symbol. But if he had been conversant with the facts, he would have said: Westward the Jug of Empire takes its way. "
This is real Nerd news, but there are sometimes I wonder why? Shouldn't we have higher priorities to spend money on? Space elevator, far space travel, populate Mars (coz frankly we are getting too crowded on earth)? But beer in space? Just what we need, some drunk space pilot docking to the space station. This is why I have no hope for the human race. Sure, I could lighten up, but I'm ready for the younger generation to get off my earth lawn!
Umm, isn't this the same tired argument people use *every* time someone does something other than cure cancer?
"OMG, why are you playing baseball, there's cancer to be cured!"
"Why are you playing guitar, there are starving people in Africa!'
"Why are you studying journalism, you should be studying engineering and solving the energy crisis!"
No matter what you are doing, there is always something more noble to be done, but we can't all be doing noble things. There's nothing wrong with brewing beer for consumption in space, or making Justin Bieber lunchboxes for kids or making yet another iPad case. People should do whatever they're best at, or whatever makes them happy.
-Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?