Did anyone else watch HBO’s harrowing Chernobyl mini-series? It was a horror upon horror cake frosted with bureaucratic lies and pathetic attempts by the Soviets to save face by letting their own citizens die horribly in ignorance. But eff that, let’s drink some vodka from the site! CNET reports that scientists have distilled Atomik vodka in the radiation zone at Chernobyl. From what we’ve seen of Chernobyl’s aftereffects, drinking Box Jellyfish piss would probably be safer.
Here’s how they explain it:
The Chernobyl Spirit Company, has brewed up the vodka from “slightly contaminated” rye grain they planted within the exclusion zone. While many traditionally think of vodka as produced from potatoes, these days most vodka is made from grains such as wheat and rye.
Here’s what environmental scientist and Chernobyl Spirit Company team member James Smith had to say about this wacky, radiation poisoned-sounding idea.
He’s studied Chernobyl since 1990 and spent time working in Belarus, the Ukraine and Russia.
“Our Atomik grain spirit came from an experiment we were doing to see how much radioactivity transferred into different crops in the Exclusion Zone 30 years after the accident,” he says, via email.
I mean…
The experimental plot where the grain was grown is situated about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from the Chernobyl reactor. Part of the process also involved using water from Chernobyl’s aquifer, lying about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the site of the disaster. The aquifer has been shown to contain traces of radioactivity in the past.
They’re using radiation water! Next up – bread made from Chernobyl’s busted control rods!
Pic: Atomik Vodka