This Colorado Craft Distillery Is Releasing a Whiskey Aged in the Stratosphere

On Thursday, Denver's Mile High Spirits put a twist on its name with the unveiling of Strato Whiskey, what it claims to be the world's first product sent to the stratosphere and back made commercially available to the public. The craft distiller partnered with "space tourism" company World View to tackle the lofty task. Teaming up in 2021, the unlikely pair sent a barrel of Fireside Whiskey, Mile High Spirits' flagship 2-year-old straight bourbon, into space. On a balmy July morning, the barrel took off from Page, Arizona, a stone's throw away from the Grand Canyon. The whiskey reportedly reached a maximum height of 106,637 feet, just over 20 miles. Throughout its journey, the barrel is said to have experienced near-vacuum conditions that rapidly fluctuated its temperature as low as -60 degrees Celsius. (-76 degrees Fahrenheit). According to the distiller, the harrowing journey created greater interaction between the whiskey and the wood, "melding and evolving flavors" as ultraviolet rays permeated the barrel.

“We’ve always been fascinated by the science behind the distilling process and how different factors can affect the flavor of our whiskey,” Wyn Ferrell, owner of Mile High Spirits, said in a news release. “Our stratospheric whiskey defies gravity, transcending tradition. It beckons us to explore beyond the ordinary, to taste the universe itself.”

The final product is said to balance notes of vanilla, caramel, oak tannins and "a hint of stardust." Unlike a standard bottle of Fireside Whiskey, which clocks in at just under $30, Strato Whiskey will be made available later this month at $350 online. The run has been limited to just 500 units, each containing a single 50-milliliter vial. Its product description playfully reads:

"We don't know what the barrel saw up there, but we do know one thing - the whiskey aged in it is out of this world, and we're not just saying that becayse the barrel spent time in the vacuum of space [...] So go ahead, pour yourselv a glass of our strato-barrel whiskey and raise a toast to the limitless possibilites of the universe."

Named after a common moniker for Denver, Mile High Spirits is purportedly the original and only fully operating urban distillery in its home city. In addition to its in-house whiskey (always stamped with the Colorado flag), the imprint sells tequila, gin, vodka, rum and pre-mixed cocktails. For more information, check out the Mile High Spirits website here. [newsletter-promo]