Whiskey from diabetics' urine

Gilpin Family whisky is a new single malt whisky made from the urine of diabetics. Creator James Gilpin doesn't sell the stuff, but rather gives away bottles as a public health statement. From the product page:

Sugar heavy urine excreted by diabetic patients is now being utilized for the fermentation of high-end single malt whisky for export. The Whisky market is growing faster then any other alcoholic beverage worldwide. With a prevalent genetic weakness being exposed in the northern hemisphere leading to a sharp rise in type two diabetes, economists have found a new exportable commodity to exploit and are keen to capitalize on this resource quickly.
Large amounts of sugar are excreted on a daily basis by type-two diabetic patients especially amongst the upper end of our aging population. As a result of this diabetic patients toilets often have unusual scale build up in the basin due and rapid mould growths as the sugar put into the system acts as nutrients for mould and bacteria growth. Is it plausible to suggest that we start utilizing our water purification systems in order to harvest the biological resources that our elderly already process in abundance?

Gilpin Family Whiskey from urine (JamesGilpin.com)

"Whizky, world's first bio whisky aged with granny whiz" (The Independent, thanks Carlo Longino!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Anonymous

Egads, is it April 1st already? Where did the time go?
DeWynken

what-the-FRAK?!!

BB: Please aim higher than pisskey posts in the future. Thanks-Loyal Reader

(the above printed in Comic Sans)
sergeirichard

Cant imagine why no one thought of this before.
- Anonymous
  
  I believe Anheuser-Busch mad the “Hey, I can get drunk on pee!” discovery back in 1876… They called it “Budweier”
stegodon

this stuff has been around for year, the bottle previously read “Ten High”
Oshkosh John

The was the key story line in a Black Adder episode!
- Felton / Moderator
  
  The was the key story line in a Black Adder episode!
  
  That was my first thought as well! Black Adder II: Episode 3, “Potato”. Both Tom Baker and Simon Jones are in it.
GeekMan

Welcome to the modernist period. We’ve moved past “poop is art” and have extrapolated into “pee is art”.

This pisskey needs a chaser. Quality booze post, please.
- Anonymous
  
  Here ya go:
  http://www.buffalotrace.com/home2.html
Anonymous

I just threw up in my mouth a little. I hope they make that on different equipment from the real stuff.
IPFREELY

Aren’t there better things we can make out of sugary pee?
limbjack

Yeah… saw a different take on that article a few days ago here: http://swellco2000.com/2010/09/gilpin-family-whisky/ Doesn’t seem so palatable now does it/
Anonymous

I thought for a second that I was reading warrenellis.com
Anonymous

Along the lines of A Modest Proposal I suppose
enkiv2

This is reasonable. To make alcohol, take anything that has sugar or starch in it, and let it rot — pretty straightforward. The alcohol *should* kill any bacteria in the urine, so the drinker should be safe from e coli (etc.). Prion diseases could be a problem…
- Pantograph
  
  Proteins can’t evaporate so no living matter (including viruses and prions) won’t pass the distilling step.
  - PaulR
    
    Don’t be so sure:
    1) Distillation of whiskey is at a temperature less than 100degC.
    2) Prions, which will easily survive this temperature, could rise through the vapour column as aerosols…
- Anonymous
  
  E. coli isn’t in urine, it’s in feces. Urine is nearly sterile, and some people do drink their own urine. But ew.
Anonymous

Soiliant Green Wiz, it is made from people
Phikus

Adds new meaning to getting pissed for sure, as well as aged whiskey.
mgfarrelly

Somewhere, in England, Warren Ellis is laughing and laughing and laughing…
Grey Devil

Just….. no.
AllisonWunderland

Just because it can be done doesn’t make it a good idea.
Phikus

Reminds me of an bit Eric Idle did on Letterman one time (can’t seem to find the clip) where he spoofs the snobby way that wine tasting seems to be practiced. He has a french waiter produce a bottle and a taster elaborately describe its character, fullness, robustness, etc. and then ask what it is. “It is wee wee, sir” -incredulous look on the taster’s face, and he asks again: “No, what is it?” “It’s wee wee, sir” the french waiter repeats.
Anonymous

i frew up
braininavat

I had some Johnny Walker Red that supposedly came from a garbage bin the other night. Couldn’t finish the glass. I’m drawing the line at that.
Halloween Jack

OK, this gives me an excuse to tell this joke. A whiskey snob goes into a bar and wants to try their best single malts, and starts impressing everyone with his intimate knowledge of whiskies; at one point the bartender hands him a glass and he takes a single sip and immediately hands it back, saying no, he’d asked for the eighteen-year-old malt and this was clearly the fifteen-year-old. Some drunk guy weaves through the small crowd around the snob and hands him a glass; the snob takes a sip without looking, then immediately spits it out and sputters, “My god, man, this is piss!”

“Well,” the drunk demands, “how old am I?”

Thanks, I’ll be here all week.
querent

Damn. Stole my idea.
TEKNA2007

Creator James Gilpin doesn’t sell the stuff, but rather gives away bottles as a marketing promotion sure to receive widespread coverage and generate attention, if not necessarily an increase in demand.

The Gilpin distillery also offers visitors a choice of several exotic foodstuffs, including a creme cheese frosting based on a family recipe. Said Mr. Gilpin: “We find that a traditional powdered-sugar-and-creme-cheese recipe combined with human dandruff results in both a better texture and a sharpened flavor. We’re using a recipe passed down from my grandmother, and we’re using her dandruff too. Many people may not realize that dandruff is a fungus that can be cultured and grown. We’ve been keeping a culture of Grandma’s dandruff for four decades now. We’re also looking at using it in next year’s hops-based brews.”
Anonymous

“single malt whisky”

Really? From reading their description I believe they’re selling a blended.
adultnotesdotcom

Wow, that is just so…weird that it made me LOL! I am working hard today when I should be out in the beautiful weather and I needed a good laugh. But what I DON’T need is a shot of whiskey!!
Antinous / Moderator

Creator James Gilpin doesn’t sell the stuff, but rather gives away bottles as a public health statement.

Bottles? Surely this should be sold in bladders or taxidermified penises.
user23

I suppose that German cannibal bar will have this as one of their offerings. Wonder what it pairs with?
Purplecat

I believe this is actually quite a close copy of the production process for Budweiser.
Greg Lindgren

This is all well and humorous, but would it have the same impact if Gilpin called it “barrel aged spirit”, not whisky?

If he’s willing to go this far with his stunt, let him also produce a mash bill showing the diabetic donors’ diet consisting only of water, barley, and other grains and cereals.
AllyPally

Single malt? Where’s the malted barley?

It may be spirit, but it’s not malt whisky, single or otherwise.

In any case, why are these diabetics peeing out sugar? Why is their diabetes not controlled to prevent all sorts of damage?

Or does the American “health” system not pay for diabetes treatment?

Or is this whole thing a wind-up?
- IPFREELY
  
  I’d go with the fourth sentence.
- TEKNA2007
  
  In any case, why are these diabetics peeing out sugar? Why is their diabetes not controlled to prevent all sorts of damage?
  
  If you can just go take a urine sample and get copious sugar any time you want, the urine donor is not in good health at all.
  
  However, maintaining good control is harder than it may look. The last time I saw a diagram of the human glucose metabolic system, it showed over 250 classes of actors and metabolic pathways, all having an impact on blood sugar. A diabetic is able to get state information about only a handful of these, and the number of things you can do to influence the system is similarly limited.
  
  Plus, it gets harder to control as you get older. Woot!
  - Anonymous
    
    That’s correct, if you’re urine is sugar laden then you are in deep trouble and your diabetes is far from controlled. As a well controlled diabetic, my urine contains no more sugar than a non-diabetic.
- Anonymous
  
  No, AllyPally, diabetes is treated much the same as any other health issue in this country; you (or your insurance) pays. A lot. Tidy little business model.
  Personally, I think Alan Grayson was on to something…
- Itsumishi
  
  Hmmm… so many comments, so little reading of the actual articles.
  
  This is clearly a statement to raise awareness of Diabetes sufferers. Their website indicates it’s a single malt whisky. They’re getting the sugar from piss, nothing else.
  
  It’s a disgusting thought, but it getting coverage. Therefore the goal is achieved.
Anonymous

Isn’t chemistry absolutely fascinating?

I’m sure with the right treatment, sugary urine can be turned into fuel for your car as well.
Caroline

I have heard an account of a diabetic woman giving a urine sample for drug testing at work. A couple of weeks later she got news that it was positive for alcohol, implying she was drunk on the job. In fact, she happened to have a yeast infection that day, along with high blood sugar. And the sample spent a week in un-air conditioned shipping before being analyzed. Yeast, sugar and warmth — it brewed into piss-beer.

(insert joke here about mass-produced American lager)

Luckily she had multiple witnesses who had interacted closely with her that day, who swore she had not smelled of alcohol nor acted drunk in any way. So she didn’t lose her job. But it is kind of nerve-wracking to think this could happen accidentally. “My God, how much did you drink? Your urine is 8% alcohol!”
Anonymous

hmm whats next poop brownies???!!!
ill lich

Well. . . if they use the ad line “Our Whiskey is Number One” they would technically be correct.
- jimh
  
  win
Jack Crosby

“But how does it taste?”
“It varies from person to person.” (rimshot)
Anonymous

Thanks, diabetics.

Thiabetics.
baberman

WOW, I can’t believe neither editors nor commenters have bothered to read the website. The guy is a Masters’ student at the Royal College of Art. He goes to this program, which seems similar to NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications art program:

http://www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/department
Gary

Awesome. As a long-time diabetic, as long as I’m willing to give up my kidneys, eyesight, nerve endings and circulation, I believe I’ve found my new revenue stream. Rimshot.
diskgrinder

other piss-based alcohol include:

penis grigio
angusturine bitters
glans marnier
and lambrini
spocko

Is this guy Chinese? Is this some kind of joke?
blueelm

Oh my fucking god I just heaved a little.
Anonymous

Hey, this whiskey tastes like piss . . .
Oh, you mean it really IS piss?
Ok, nevermind.
*Goes to throw up.
iguanoid

He drinks a pee-pee drink, he drinks a wee-wee drink.

Thick unbroken golden braids of pisskey…
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4850/saturday-night-live-urigro
- sparkler
  
  Pissing the night away, nice one iguanoid.
  As for pissky, à² _à²
mgfarrelly

Just be wary of these people opening a chocolate shop.
- IPFREELY
  
  There’s an idea. At least I can have something tasty while gagging a bit.
Anonymous

Yikes! Who peed that dark stuff?
Anonymous

I believe they were going for “whizz-key”. Ta da!
Actionverb

Johnny Walker Yellow Label?
- spocko
  
  HA! I actually laughed out loud. Well done!
CastanhasDoPara

Until now I thought Chicha was the most disgusting alcoholic beverage/process. That’s the one that uses mastication/saliva to speed up and aid in the fermentation process. And yes I have tried it, it is terrible.

I guess the idea that one just rents alcoholic beverages is quite literal in this instance.

Also, just no, no and hell no.
Anonymous

I wouldn’t drink it. Who knows what other drugs our heavily medicated seniors are peeing out.
sando_art

Getting piss drunk tonight for sure.
Anonymous

I am both disgusted and horrified.
what’s next? cosmetics made from fecal matter?
evolution is starting to go backwards…
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  cosmetics made from fecal matter?
  
  Urea and human placenta have long been ingredients in high-end cosmetics.
  - Alex_M
    
    Not to mention that the fats and oils in cosmetics often come from the rendering of used food oils.
    
    Yesterday’s deep-fry oil at McDonalds is tomorrow’s Oil of Olay.
Anonymous

This sounds like something you learn in prison. By the way the BATF federal regulations defines a whiskey as a spirit distilled from grain and aged in wood. Urine is not grain, even is this was derived from someones “wood”, it does not legally qualify as a whiskey.
- Itsumishi
  
  It’s still distilled from grain! They’re just adding sugar from urine….
Billegible

What? No.