Budweiser sales have been tanking for years. But parent Anheuser- Busch InBev is still hoping to take its flagship beer and the industry as a whole to new, unprecedented heights- astronomical heights, to be precise.
At the South by Southwest Conference in March, 2017, Anheuser- Busch announced its intentions to study brewing in outer space. One of its initiatives was to boldly send beer- making ingredients where they had never gone before: Into the vastly unexplored vacuum of outer space. Now, Budweiser is close to realizing its goal as a Space X mission plans to skyrocket barley seeds into the heavens next month. The batch of seeds will make their way to the International Space Station and will remain in orbit for a 30 day before they are delivered safely back to the Earth. The plan is to then study the barley to see how it reacted, if at all, to a zero- gravity environment and prepare for future brewing on Mars, the planet outside of the Earth that is most suitable for life.
Budweiser Vice President Ricardo Marques says the plan to brew beer on Mars might seem extremely far- fetched to some, but it fits within the goals of NASA and others to eventually colonize the rocky planet.
“Budweiser is always pushing the boundaries of innovation and we are inspired by the collective American Dream to get to Mars”, said Marques. “We are excited to begin our research to brew beer for the red planet.”
The out- of- this- world barley experiment will consist of twenty barley seeds. They will be packaged in a pair of Space Tango CubeLabs and will be part of the SpaceX CRS-13 mission. Once the 30 day orbit is complete, the seeds will be returned to Budweiser’s research team for analysis. The goal is to see how the effects of zero gravity might impact seeds and, ultimately, alter the barley produced by the seeds in any significant way that could affect the flavor and consistency of beer.
Budweiser’s SpaceX barley launch is scheduled for December 4, 2017. To view the rocket launch live, visit www.SpaceX.com.
Budweiser is amazing beer.I love it.