The Japanese company Asahi Shuzo, that brews the renowned Dassai sake, is planning on making a beverage in space. Only one small 100 milliliter bottle would be available for sale at a stunning price.
In order to brew the fermented rice drink, Asahi Shuzo plans to send all the ingredients to the International Space Station. The company has payed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for access to the Kibo experiment module, which was developed especially to conduct tests.
“In a future where humans can freely travel between the moon and Earth, some will visit the moon as tourists. This project aims to create sake that can be enjoyed on the moon, allowing visitors to have delightful moments there. Many Japanese foods, such as natto and miso, are fermented, and this technology could expand into these areas,” Souya Uetsuki, the brewer in charge of the project at Asahi Shuzo, told CNN.
As it is the first time such a thing will be done, it is not clear yet how the fermentation process will occur in this particular environment and special equipment needs to be developed. “There is no guarantee of 100% success for the fermentation tests,” Uetsuki continued. The different gravity in particular could cause problems in the brewing process.
The launch date is planned somewhere in 2025. Only a very small amount of ingredients will be sent into space, meaning a bottle of just 100 milliliters will be available for sale on Earth once the project is over. While some bottles of sake sold by Asahi Shuzo already go for several thousands of dollars, the very small bottle (a normal serving of sake contains 80 millilitres) is expected to be sold for 100 million yen (€613,800).
Even though the space-brewed sake would be a first, it is not the first time people have been wondering about what an alcoholic beverage brewed in space would taste like. A team of researchers at the University of Florida have already been conducting tests regarding beer fermentation in microgravity. In order to do so, they didn’t take to the International Space Station but instead used a microgravity simulator on Earth. Their conclusion was that such microgravity could accelerate the fermentation process and, moreover, deliver a better end product.
