Moon Beer Is Now On Tap (In Delaware)
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Beer and robots are such a great combination that it’s hard to imagine our favorite fizzy intoxicant getting any better. But science is in the business of blowing our minds, so even though I’d never even dreamed of space beer, I probably shouldn’t be surprised that it’s out there. Or, more accurately, it’s down here.
When you think of drinking star stuff, what do you imagine? Maybe the lingering aftertaste of the solar system’s tail or the fiery burn of a comet? Here’s something I bet you didn’t think of: moon dust. That’s right. There’s now a beer with 100% more gritty moon particles than any beer in history. You’re probably salivating just thinking of it.
Celest-jewel-ale (who hyphenates beer names?) is brought to us by Dogfish Head Brewery and ILC Dover, a company that makes spacesuits for NASA’s astronauts. ILC Dover supplied Dogfish with its rare, not-so-secret ingredient. Dogfish used the lunar dust to spice up its traditional Oktoberfest fare. It may not hydrate you as you drink it, but the moon dust contains minerals and salts, so it creates a healthy brew, as well as one accented by notes of caramel, malt, and toasted bread. Dogfish representatives say the beer has “a subtle but complex earthiness.” It’s unclear whether they meant to be punny and clever with that description, but since “mooniness” isn’t really recognized as an adjective (yet), we’ll give it to them.
And what would moon-beer be without accessories designed to showcase and protect that valuable, exotic juice? ILC made some beer koozies out of space suit material, and Celest-jewel-ale drinkers can borrow them with their pints. Sure, the insulation probably keeps the beer nice and cool, but the koozies can do a whole lot more than that, including preventing solar energy from being absorbed into the beer. I hate when that happens. The koozies are also fire-resistant and pretty impossible to tear. Best of all, the koozie could make the beer drinkable in space — perfect to augment a meal of Martian spinach. It can keep the beer drinkable from temperatures between -250F and +250F, and can withstand solar radiation and space vacuums. In other words, everything spacesuits do to keep humans safe and comfortable, the koozies do for beer. That’s what I call a good sense of priorities!
The downside of the Celest-jewel-ale is its limited availability. Dogfish is only brewing a small amount of the beer, initially designed to celebrate the autumnal equinox (and to help out those farmers working under the harvest moon). Celest-jewel-ale is only available at Dogfish’s Rehoboth Beach Brewpub in Delaware, and once it’s gone, it’s really gone. But hey, at least that brewpub is open seven days a week, 365 days a year. Moondust doesn’t take time off for holidays.
