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It’s been almost fifteen years since noted rich person Richard Branson announced his intentions to let other rich people make a trip to outer space with the formation of Virgin Galactic, a company that has been unable to make good on its promise since being founded in 2004. Since then, fellow billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have each created their own companies in an attempt to corner the space tourism industry, and after Musk launched a Tesla into the skies, the idea of “regular” people paying to make the trip at some point in the near future doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
As a result, other companies are gearing up to take advantage of an untapped market, including a brewery in Australia that’s created a beer designed to be consumed in zero gravity. According to Pedestrian, Sydney’s 4 Pines Brewing Company teamed up with engineering firm Saber Astronautics to craft Vostok— an Irish stout specifically designed for people who want to catch a buzz while soaring through outer space— and now they’re giving someone the chance to try it out for themselves in a weightless environment.
The two companies originally teamed up to figure out a way to brew a boldly-flavored beer that would taste like it should on Earth in the face of the physiological changes people experience in space. In addition to compensating for a dulled ability to taste, the team also had to tackle the unique problems of “wet burps,” as any gas that builds up in the body is surrounded by a bubble of beer that comes back up when you belch.
They came up with a successful formula in 2011 before figuring out how to bottle the beer so it can be consumed the same way that it is on Earth, and now they want to give one lucky person the chance to test it out for themselves on a ZERO-G Parabolic Flight that lets you temporarily float in the air. To enter, you have to write a short paragraph about the beer that you’d bring with you on the flight in addition to contributing to their soon-to-be-launched IndieGoGo campaign that will get you a (sadly unfilled) custom-designed bottle.
The winner gets a trip to Cape Canaveral for three days and an experience that’ll probably get you more likes than usual on Instagram.