Cray Juice

I've tasted Cray computer "juice." Cray supercomputers use some sort of liquid to keep them cool, and I've actually tasted that liquid. I was assured it wouldn't kill me!

In the mid 1980s I was stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, and worked at the National Security Agency (NSA). While I was there I went through the Senior Military Cryptologic Supervisor's Course (I think that's what it was called) which included a tour of NSA. As part of the tour the class went down to the basement to see the Cray computer(s) that the Agency used. We were given a little speech about the computers, none of which I remember, except for the part where we were shown a jar of liquid, told that it was Cray computer juice (not the words our guide used), and offered a taste. Strange, huh? Two people in a class of about 30 were willing to taste it. I was one of them. (I remember the other person very well because we had sort of a thing going on! But that's a different story.)

The closest I can come to describing the taste is that it was like vegetable oil. It wasn't thick, like oil, and it wasn't as yellow, but the taste was definitely similar.

I suppose I'm one of only a handful of people who can say they've tasted Cray computer juice.