Alien IPA? Martian porter? Oh wait, it’s Budweiser — not Lagunitas — that hopes to become the first brewers on Mars, so we’re probably talking microgravity lager. It’s still cool, though.
Budweiser announced its extra-terrestrial brewing bid at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, in March. But it’s one thing to talk the talk and quite another to brew the beer — on a distant planet inhabited only by rocks and Matt Damon’s stranded astronaut. So Bud is taking its first step by blasting 20 barley seeds to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX cargo supply mission, set to launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Dec. 4
The goal is to see how barley — a key ingredient in most American beer — grows in an extra-terrestrial environment. Scientists at the space station will do two 30-day experiments, one on seed exposure and a second on barley germination. The results will be analyzed back on Earth as part of the macrobrewery’s microgravity “research to brew beer for the red planet,” vice president Ricardo Marques said.
Of course, it takes more than barley to brew beer. The process requires water, as well, a substance the red planet is not known for. But we’re all in favor of scientific research. And beer.
