---

Whiskey Made from Urine of Type-two Diabetics

Sure, you like your whiskey, but do you like it enough to try a whiskey made from the urine of elderly type-two diabetics?

Whiskey connoisseurs, listen up, because this is a whiskey you probably haven't heard of yet: Wired reports that designer, researcher and type-one diabetic James Gilpin has created a whiskey made from urine.

What made Gilpin decide to try this? Being a diabetic himself, he was fairly familiar with the condition and the resulting effect on the body. Large amounts of sugar are excreted by type-two diabetic patients on a daily basis, and this is especially true of elderly patients, so Gilpin decided that letting all that sugar go to waste was just, well, wasteful.

"Large amounts of sugar are excreted on a daily basis by type-two diabetic patients especially amongst the upper end of our aging population. Is it plausible to suggest that we start utilizing our water purification systems in order to harvest the biological resources that our elderly already process in abundance?" Gilpin asks on the Design Interactions 2010 graduates website.

Wired UK reports that the urine was acquired from a group of volunteers, including Gilpin's own grandmother, and then purified the same way mains water is purified.

---

Wired:

"The source material is acquired from elderly volunteers, including Gilpin's own grandmother. The urine is purified in the same way as mains water is purified, with the sugar molecules removed and added to the mash stock to accelerate the whisky's fermentation process. Traditionally, that sugar would be made from the starches in the mash.

Once fermented into a clear alcohol spirit, whisky blends are added to give colour, taste and viscosity, and the product is bottled with the name and age of the contributor."

---

If you want to try some of the whiskey, you best get yourself to London, as it's not going to be sold in the supermarket anytime soon. Gilpin Family Whiskey is more of an art project, and as such, will be on display at 100% Materials, a design and architecture show in September. There will also be tastings for the less squeamish of attendees.

---