making outer space safe for beer

Posted on: Fri, 03/04/2011 - 16:02 By: Tom Swiss

Saurian Brandy and Romulan Ale may still be lightyears away, but thanks to Australia's 4 Pines Brewing Company, astronauts and cosmonauts may soon be able to enjoy a beer in orbit. (If you don't think that's important, consider that beer might be the beverage that created civilization.)

Their reduced carbonation stout, named "Vostok" in honor of the first manned spacecraft (flown by Yuri Gagarin in 1961), is designed to avoid the gross phenomenon of the free-fall "wet burp", and also to account for changes in the sense of taste brought on by the space environment. But it's also designed to be tasty here dirtside. Sixpacks are available for in selected stores in Australia for around AUD 20. (If any readers down under care to send me a sixer, I'll pay you back...)