Shooting Star Vodka: the $200 meteorite-infused Vodka that promises out-of-this-world taste

2 min read

1 year ago Robin

Every day about 48.5 tons of space material falls to Earth, meteorites and bolides.
Although most of them burn up in the atmosphere, others crash into our planet. However, of the estimated 82,000 meteorites found on Earth, only one of them has impacted a bottle of alcohol!
In fact, French distillery Pegasus decided to celebrate its debut on the US spirits market with a curious product: an ultra-premium vodka infused with a real meteorite.
The aptly named Shooting Star Vodka, is infused on a meteorite found in 1977 and it starts off as organic, locally sourced wheat and botanicals from France distilled using iStill, the most advanced distilling technology.
The result is then slowly reduced over a month-long period using pure spring water from an underground river running through limestone layers 150 meters below the Burgundy distillery., even if what really sets Shooting Star Vodka apart from other premium spirits is the aging process: it is aged, in fact, in small batches for 18 months using large terracotta jars with pieces of meteorite suspended in the middle. As the space rock partially dissolves into the vodka, it allegedly gives the spirit a mineral taste.
It contains no sugar, so the reason for its sweet notes is hard to explain.

“The presence of chondrite, a mineral unique to meteorites, in the final product, provides a unique mineral flavor that complements the existing smooth and refined texture that characterizes our vodkas,” Pegasus founder and CEO Maxime Girardin said in an interview.
“As we explored ways to embody the brand and bottle stars, incorporating a meteorite was the closest we could get!”

Maxime Girardin, heir to a family of winemakers from Burgundy, decided to experiment with ingredients of cosmic origin and, as the he assures, the vodka is infused with a 22.5-pound meteorite that was found in 1977 in Nebraska.
It is believed that it fell to Earth in 1910!
Wheat and barley from France are used to distill vodka on the meteorite.
Interestingly, other spirit brands boast about filtering their drinks using real meteorites, however Pegasus actually infuses its product with the taste of star rocks though its unique aging process.
Either way, Shooting Star Vodka costs $200, and its flavor depends on how much you want to taste space rocks!