The team at Star Trek Wines has already started to look ahead to one of the next offerings coming down the line, with their Risa Wine poll that launched a few weeks back — but today we have an exclusive first look at their next big project, one that’s been heavily requested since the company first ventured into the final frontier.
That’s right, Star Trek Wines is crossing the Neutral Zone to bring fans a collectable product that’s been in high demand ever since they hit the scene back in 2019: Romulan Ale. Illegal in the Federation, the blue beverage from the Romulan Star Empire was first introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — and seen again most recently in Star Trek: Picard.
Currently under development for release from Star Trek Wines in 2023, the distinctive bottle is the first big challenge the STW team had to tackle. Already in the works for over a year, the bottle design work for the Star Trek Wines edition of Romulan Ale is based directly upon a surviving production-made bottle, originally assembled from multiple pieces of milled acrylic — with some minor-yet-understandable alterations required for translation into glass production, bottling seal needs, and so forth.
As for the bright blue spirits that fill the bottle, that’s a question still to be answered: just what is Romulan Ale for the 21st century? The Star Trek Wines team heard fans’ requests for the Romulan Ale bottle, and now they want that same input to help determine what’ll go inside the ridged bottle when it beams down in 2023.
They’ve opened their mailbox and are asking for your suggestions: head over to this Romulan Ale survey at the Star Trek Wines website to submit your ideas for how they should bring the futuristic beverage down to Earth.
If you’ll be in the Windy City this weekend for the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention, be sure to head over to the Star Trek Wines booth in the vendors room to see the company’s prototype Romulan Ale bottles in person, and give the team your blue-filling suggestions.
UPDATE: Here’s a good look at the Romulan Ale prototype bottle from the Mission Chicago convention floor, with two different blue-color liquids on display:
Finally, for those of you in areas that can’t have alcohol shipped to your location due to local legal restrictions (something we know the Star Trek Wines team feels your pain about!), the company is working to get empty-bottle stock of some of their offerings up for sale before the end of 2022 — including last year’s Cardassian Kanar bottle.
When Romulan Ale finally lands on planet Earth next year, the company is planning to arrange to have glass-only versions of the product available so collectors in alcohol-restricted locations can have a chance at that release as well.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek product news as the Mission Chicago convention kicks off today, as we suspect even more new announcements are on the way!