Review: Alcohol in Space - The Movie

by Jeff Foust
Monday, December 16, 2024

Alcohol in Space - The Movie
Directed by Sam Burbank
2024, 50 mins.
Available to rent and own on Amazon Prime Video

Alcoholic beverages, in their various forms, are key parts of society, and as that society expands into space, it’s natural that alcohol will come along in some way. That has traditionally been limited in government space programs, which often become skittish to even consider the possibility that people might want to have a drink while in space.

“People get a little bit nervous about the topic,” says Chris Carberry, the author of the 2019 book Alcohol in Space that looked at the history and prospects of drinking or making booze in space (see “Review: Alcohol in Space”, The Space Review, December 2, 2019). He is speaking in the opening of a new documentary, also called Alcohol in Space, that is based on the book, looking at the interest people have in drinking in space or using it to make alcoholic beverages.

The brief documentary looks at three efforts involving alcohol and spaceflight. One is an effort involving French designers, working with champagne company Maison Mumm, to develop a champagne bottle and glass that can work in microgravity. A second involves Ninkasi Brewing, an Oregon microbrewery that flew yeast on sounding rockets for use to brew beer. The third features a partnership between Nanoracks and Ardbeg to fly terpenes, key compounds in scotch, on the International Space Station.

The film documents those efforts and the ups and downs (figurative and literal) each faced. The design of the champagne bottle required several versions that were tested on aircraft flying parabolic arcs to provide moments of zero-g. Ninkasi’s first attempt to fly yeast failed when they were not able to recover the amateur rocket in time. Ardbeg had to be convinced that Nanoracks was serious when that company offered last-minute accommodations on an ISS payload rack.

The film is best seen as showing the enthusiasm and creativity people show when considering the possibilities of alcohol and spaceflight rather than significant progress towards space spirits. Ninkasi was primarily motivated by the novelty of seeing of yeast that had flown, ever so briefly, in space, could be used to brew beer; as one brewer put it, they didn’t want something too different from what they normally brewed. (The space-flown yeast was used for “Ground Control” beer sold for a time by the brewery.) The terpenes flown in space were not significantly different from those on the ground, and one Ardbeg official noted that, if anything, the ones on the ground tested better. Had the space-flown version been significantly better, it might have posed other challenges, the company noted: regulations require scotch whisky to be aged for at least three years in Scotland, not space.

In 2022, Maison Mumm announced a partnership with Axiom Space to fly its champagne, in that specially designed bottle, on future Axiom flights (see “Commercial space stations: labs or hotels?”, The Space Review, October 10, 2022). The companies, though, have been, well, mum, about that effort since then.

Nonetheless, Alcohol in Space does show the interest in this topic. Perhaps, in the near future, visitors to commercial space stations will be able to sip some Maison Mumm while floating next to a window to see the Earth below, or astronauts on the Moon will drink a beer after a long EVA on the lunar surface. If they do, they can thank, and raise a glass to, some of the people profiled in the film.

Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review, and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.

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