Shortie the
Ardbeg distillery Jack Russell Terrier
mascot has been honoured with his own
200ft diameter crop circle which marks
the imminent return of Ardbeg Single
Malt Whisky from Space.
Ardbeg Single Malt Whisky made
history in October 2011 when it became
the first ever distillery to send
new-make spirit to Space, now with the
much anticipated return to Earth of the
Ardbeg spirit sample from space imminent
the Ardbeg distillery have marked the
occasion with the creation of a crop
circle in a field in Cheshire.
They didn't choose just any old field
but a field near Macclesfield which is
overlooked by the Jodrell Bank
Observatory.
It isn't your everyday crop circle
either, you know the ones, plane old
circles which mysteriously and
inexplicably appear in farmers fields
around the world, this crop circle was
created to honour the Ardbeg distillery
mascot Shortie, you may already know him
as he is the Jack Russell which you will
find on every bottle of the Ardbeg 10
year old. The unique Ardbeg Shortie crop
circle is also a message of thanks to
the astronauts currently working on a
unique science project to discover the
effects of gravity on whisky maturation.
The unusual portrait was designed by
crop circle expert John Lundberg who
along with a team of 8 circle makers
spent over ten hours creating the
striking installation. The crop circle
measures 200ft (over 60 metres) and
stands in view of the famous Jodrell
Bank Observatory’s Lovell Telescope, the
third largest steerable radio telescope
in the world.
The crop circle, which celebrates the
much anticipated return to Earth of the
Ardbeg spirit sample. The team aboard
the International Space Station took
delivery of the Ardbeg new-make spirit
sample in October 2011 in order to
conduct a series of experiments into
zero-gravity maturation – and the Ardbeg
experiment is set to return to Earth in
the coming months.
During the spirit’s tenure on the
International Space Station there has
been a visit by the Winter Olympics
torch, Canadian astronaut Chris
Hadfield’s infamous rendition of Bowie’s
‘Space Oddity’ and the world’s first
robotic astronaut’s Earth-bound plea for
his human companion to come and join him
in space.
Ardbeg Single Malt spirit molecules,
along with particles of charred oak,
have been in orbit on the International
Space Station as part of an experiment
to see how the Single Malt spirit and
oak mature together at zero gravity for
the last three years. Alongside parallel
tests conducted in Warehouse 3 of the
Islay-based distillery, Space Research
Company NanoRacks LLC hopes to discover
the differences in maturation processes
between the Earth-based and
micro-gravity samples. The results of
the experiment are expected to prove
ground-breaking in a number of
industries, not just whisky distilling.
This is the first time that anyone has
studied the effects of zero-gravity on
maturation.
Mickey Heads, Ardbeg Distillery Manager,
says, "We wanted to know what effect
gravity can have on the maturation
process, so three years ago we sent up
vials of Ardbeg’s new-make spirit to the
International Space Station. The wait is
nearly over with the experiment set to
return to Earth in the coming months.
But before the capsule leaves the Space
Station we wanted to say thanks to the
astronauts by sending them a rather
special message from us here on Earth."
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