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Space whiskey returning to Earth soon (hurry, please)

Vials of whiskey were sent to space in 2011 as part of an experiment aboard the ISS. Now the sweet spirits are coming home, and Crave's Eric Mack says they can't get back fast enough.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Eric Mack
2 min read

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Returning to Earth September 12. Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

In 2011, vials of Ardbeg scotch whiskey were sent to the International Space Station as part of an experiment to see how the spirits' maturation process is affected by the near zero gravity of near space. Now it's almost time for a homecoming.

According to the folks at the Ardbeg distillery, which dates back to the early 19th century on the Hebrides Islands of Scotland:

"The vials contained a class of compounds known as 'terpenes.' Ardbeg was invited by US-based space research company NanoRacks LLC to take part in testing these micro organic compounds in a maturation experiment (the interaction of these compounds with charred oak) between normal gravity on Earth and micro-gravity i.e. space."

After orbiting the Earth over 15,000 times at a speed of 17,227 miles per hour the past few years, the single malt is scheduled to return to terra firma on September 12.

After landing in Kazakhstan, the extra-terrestrially aged booze will be rushed to a lab in Houston, where Ardbeg says a team including the whiskey's creator will "proceed to unlock the mysteries of maturation, through the study of the interaction between Ardbeg-crafted molecules and charred oak, both in micro-gravity (in orbit) and normal gravity (in Ardbeg's Warehouse 3)."

The result will be a white paper that reveals the secrets of the universe and their effects on a good single malt. And perhaps we'll have a new answer to the great existential question of why we seem to be so isolated in the vast universe -- because the best of the hard stuff is being made and hoarded out there.

If not, no biggie. We'll still have a brand new space whiskey to console our lonesome selves with. Humans win!