Special Bottles Of Whisky Let Space Fans Toast To NASA Missions Past & Future

Scotland-based spirits maker, The Whisky Barrel (TWB), is commemorating past and future NASA missions with new limited-edition bottles for 2022. 

The bottler already has an existing Apollo series, which includes a trilogy of Scotch whisky featuring a bespoke set of labels by illustrator Jamie Coe, to celebrate the manned missions to the moon during the 1960s and 70s. 

Also within the Apollo series are its ‘We're On Our Way, Houston’ bottles, a 13-year-old cask which, according to TWB, was timed “just right” to match the mission number of Apollo 13.

“When the crew of Apollo 17 returned to Earth in December 1972, the program came to an end amid winning enthusiasm and finances. Little did anybody realize it would be 50 years before a new program to return humans even close to our beautiful moon,” the company said.

Now, it will be releasing the first bottling of its new Artemis whisky series, to celebrate the upcoming trip of the space agency’s new lunar program. Due to a series of delays, the Artemis 1 mission—which was originally planned for 2017—will be setting off on a three-week trip around the moon early next year.

“To celebrate the (still delayed) launch of Artemis 1, we are delighted to bring to you can incredible single cask from Islay to mark our return to the moon,” said The Whisky Barrel. 

“As planning goes, this superb whisky has not fallen to quite the same level of delay [as the mission] so in full anticipation, and so you can have it in your hand when the day of launch arrives.” 

According to Space.com, the Artemis First Launch Edition consists of the spirit matured in a single hogshead cask, and was distilled in 1990 at the Bunnahabhain Distillery on the Isle of Islay. The special bottle will feature blueprint drawings of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket being used on the mission. 

It’s been touted to taste like “orbital barley sugars, ginger eclipse, lemon juice pulsars, hot chili rocket fuel, honey starburst, and solar salt and pepper,” keeping in line with the space theme.

Only 285 bottles of the Artemis First Launch Edition are available, and retails for £220 (US$295).

[via Space.com, images via The Whisky Barrel]