Ageing spirits in unorthodox – some might even say extreme – environments is nothing new. Savvy distilleries across the world have been stashing their barrels in all sorts of places, including a mountain-top, the belly of a ship and even the bottom of the ocean, in the hopes of speeding up the ageing process or even imparting unique qualities that can’t be replicated elsewhere.
So what happens when you age spirits in outer space?
That’s the question that North Carolina-based Mystic Farm & Distillery hopes to answer once their five barrels of bourbon – which have been aged for at least three years conventionally – return after spending a year in low orbit.
According to the distillery, they will be sent there with the help of companies like SpaceX, Inversion Space, Bank of America and others.
They are expected to yield between 1,000 to 1,500 bottles of aptly named Mystic Galactic, which can subsequently be compared to the equally well-named Ground Control – made from barrels of the same spirit that remained firmly on Planet Earth throughout the ageing process.
Related: This Maison Mumm champagne bottle is designed for outer space