Trekkies Rejoice: An Official Star Trek Beer Launches This Month

The nerdy cultural phenomenon that is Star Trek is now in its 50th year, and it’s celebrating the golden anniversary of Vulcan mind melds by launching an official beer this month. (Conveniently, said launch also coincides with the release of the next franchise film, Star Trek Beyond, which hits theaters later this month.)

According to Nerdist, New York craft brewery Shmaltz Brewing — makers of such beers as He’Brew, "the chosen beer" — has teamed up with CBS Studios on the brew, which is called Star Trek Golden Anniversary Ale: The Trouble With Tribbles. It will debut July 20 at the Star Trek Beyond premiere at the IMAX Embarcadero Marina Park in San Diego, and will also be served at San Diego’s Comic-Con in July and the Star Trek Las Vegas convention in August.

Proving that his fandom runs deep, Shmaltz’s brewer Drew Schmidt presents a highly esoteric backstory behind the brew: The Trouble With Tribbles is inspired by a Star Trek episode by the same name, in which "the Enterprise was on a mission to deliver Quadrotriticale" — a genetically modified cross between wheat and rye — "in an effort to save the agrarian planet Sherman."

The beer is made with five types of appropriately cosmic-sounding hops: Comet, Galaxy, Polaris, Aurora, and Admiral (Kirk) hops, which will bring "floral, mint, pine, and tropical fruit flavors" to the party. Furthermore, the brew "is not filtered to clarity, in order to preserve the ambiguity of good and evil."

Come this fall, Shmaltz will follow it up with a second commemorative beer. Called Star Trek Golden Anniversary Ale: Voyage to the Northeast Quadrant, it will be served at the Star Trek: Mission New York convention hitting New York City’s Javits Center September 2 through September 4.

True fans will obviously want to pair these beers with the Star Trek coasters that emit materialization and dematerialization sound effects — AKA spacey whirring sounds — when glasses are put down and picked up.

• Celebrate 50 Years of Star Trek With Golden Anniversary Beer [Nerdist]

• Tribbles-Inspired Beer at Comic-Con, Trek Vegas [Star Trek Official Site]

• Beam Me Up, Booze: Ridiculous Star Trek Coasters for the Trekkie in Your Life [E]