Space beer is less bubbly and more flavorful

Sydney's 4 Pines Brewing Company has created a beer optimized for microgravity consumption, to be trialled by vomit-comet riders in Florida. It's intended for eventual consumption by space tourists:

"In space your whole entire face, including your tongue, swells," says Jaron. "It becomes a lot harder to taste things in space."
"With all the swelling all of your taste buds become almost a bit numb, in a way," he says.
"Astronauts have been known for years to throw handfuls of salt and bottles on Tabasco sauce on their meals..."
"On earth when you burp, due to the gravity that's acting on your stomach, the gas and the liquid separate," he says.
"However in space... the gas and the liquid can both come up during a burp."

First batch of astro-beer brewed and ready for testing (Thanks, Thesloob, via Submitterator!)

(Image: Hon!....Is there anymore beer?, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from mikebroatch's photostream and Astronomy, Light Echoes from V838 Mon, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 34053291@N05's photostream)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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theredballoon

Screw space beer, I want to hear more about this:
“However in space… the gas and the liquid can both come up during a burp.”
jenjen

Pshaw. I want to drink beer brewed IN space.
toxonix

So it’s like Guinness then?
Anonymous

Pissed in space? I’m not sure that would be the best idea.
Boba Fett Diop

Less bubbly and more flavorful? Traditional ales have been brewed like this for centuries.
Artichokes

Another thing that happens in space is that you drink from a bag.
Anonymous

Flat Tabasco beer?
Nword

A liquid burp?

I guess that’d be a vurp..
RuthlessRuben

Is it just me or does the prefix space- make everything and anything that little bit more awesome?

Space beer. Nice. I’ve always been fascinated by the ridiculous amount of research that has to go into something as simple as having a drink for the whole thing to work in space.