By Katherine Barrier on Wed, Feb 8, 2023 at 11:21 am

Northside brewery Urban Artifact is again releasing “the world’s most expensive beer to brew,” in 2023, but this time in a whole new flavor. The freeze-dried fruit tart Astronaut Food will launch into orbit Monday, Feb. 13, this time in peach. In 2022, Urban Artifact released a blueberry-blackberry edition of Astronaut Food that used over 1,000 pounds of freeze-dried fruit and cost $1,100 a barrel to produce. The 2023 edition features 1,500 pounds of freeze-dried peaches – which is over 16,500 pounds of fresh peaches for a single batch or two peaches per 8-ounce can. The brewery said their freeze-dried fruit tarts were born out of natural curiosity. Powdered Freeze Dried Strawberries

“We’ve long pushed past traditional boundaries for fruit beers, and continually ask big questions like: ‘How could we possibly put any more fruit into our beers?’ It became a personal challenge for our team to crack this puzzle,” the brewery said in a press release.

Urban Artifact said the problem lies in not wanting to add so much water content from the fruit that it would dilute the flavor. But because freeze-dried fruit has the water squeezed from it, it would add that fruitiness without liquid. They spent two years in research and development before releasing Astronaut Food.

The brewery describes their peach edition, which clocks in at 15% ABV, as having a velvety-smooth texture with a peach nectar flavor and a heady touch of booze.

“Enjoy after a nice meal, with a good book, or the next time you get the urge to fire up old episodes of Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos,’” Urban Artifact says.

Astronaut Food will be available in limited quantities wherever Urban Artifact products are sold. Urban Artifact has not released the price of the beer at this time, but 2022's edition cost $30 for a four-pack. Urban Artifact, 1660 Blue Rock St., Northside. More info: www.artifactbeer.com. Coming soon: CityBeat Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting Cincinnati stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

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