A single malt Scottish whisky is to return to Earth after maturing aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for nearly three years.
A vial of unmatured whisky from the Ardbeg Distillery on Islay, along with charred oak compaounds, was dispatched to the ISS on October 2011. The distillery was invited by US based space research company NanoRacks 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 the micro-gravity of space.
After 1,045 days in space, the whisky is due to return to Earth on 12 September aboard a rocket landing in Kazakhstan. It will then be transported to Houston, Texas, where it will be met by a team of scientists and Ardbeg’s director of distilling and whisky creation, Dr Bill Lumsden.
The space-matured whisky will be compared to an identical bottle of unmatured ‘control’ whisky that has been housed at the Ardbeg distillery for the past three years.
Commenting on the experiment, Lumsden said:
“This is one small step for man but one giant leap for whisky.
“The team hope to uncover how flavours develop in different gravitational conditions – findings which could revolutionise the whisky-making process.
“We hope to shine new light on the effect of gravity on the maturation process but who knows where it will lead us? It could be to infinity and beyond.”
