Aged in Space

Not content with having the best whisky in the world, Suntory Holdings Ltd. plans to take its whisky out of this world and into space.

The Japanese brewing and distilling company said this week it would send a total of six samples of its whiskies and other alcoholic beverages to the International Space Station, where they will be kept for at least a year to study the effect zero gravity has on aging.

According to a spokesman at the company, the samples, which will be carried in glass flasks, will include both a 21-year-old single malt and a beverage that has just been distilled. Research has shown that whisky aged in an environment with little temperature change, convection of fluids and shaking tends to be become â??mellower,â?? he said.

The company hopes to learn how the ultimate zero gravity environment affects the taste of their products, he added.

There are no plans to make the space-aged whisky available for purchase. The samples will be studied in labs once they return to Earth and whisky blenders will taste them to compare them with those aged on the ground.

The samples will be carried to the space station on Aug. 16 on Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencyâ??s transfer vehicle Kounotori. The first samples will return to Earth in about a year, while the rest will remain in space for at least two years.

Hmm, that bottle will be about >$10k by the time it gets back.

But whisky doesn’t age in glass, it matures in oak barrells. Given there are no plans to put a distillery in space this can be seen as at best a PR exercise. Does NASA stand for Need Another Shot of Alcohol?

What I want to see is the statistical thermodynamic and a chemical kinetic analysis of this.


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[quote]Nards wrote:
.[/quote]

Well I just totally Shattnered myself laughing at that!

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
But whisky doesn’t age in glass, it matures in oak barrells. Given there are no plans to put a distillery in space this can be seen as at best a PR exercise. [/quote]

Thinking the same thing. Why would they send it up in glass?

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
But whisky doesn’t age in glass, it matures in oak barrells. Given there are no plans to put a distillery in space this can be seen as at best a PR exercise. [/quote]

Thinking the same thing. Why would they send it up in glass?[/quote]

X3

Would the glass containers be 750ml or the full lltre used for duty free? Do they have pretty pictures on the side?

I wonder how much will ‘evaporate’ in transit.

[quote]msw1959 wrote:
Not content with having the best whisky in the world, Suntory Holdings Ltd. plans to take its whisky out of this world and into space.

The Japanese brewing and distilling company said this week it would send a total of six samples of its whiskies and other alcoholic beverages to the International Space Station, where they will be kept for at least a year to study the effect zero gravity has on aging.

According to a spokesman at the company, the samples, which will be carried in glass flasks, will include both a 21-year-old single malt and a beverage that has just been distilled. Research has shown that whisky aged in an environment with little temperature change, convection of fluids and shaking tends to be become â??mellower,â?? he said.

The company hopes to learn how the ultimate zero gravity environment affects the taste of their products, he added.

There are no plans to make the space-aged whisky available for purchase. The samples will be studied in labs once they return to Earth and whisky blenders will taste them to compare them with those aged on the ground.

The samples will be carried to the space station on Aug. 16 on Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencyâ??s transfer vehicle Kounotori. The first samples will return to Earth in about a year, while the rest will remain in space for at least two years.
[/quote]

That should be an interesting experiment. They sure cannot make it taste worse. Yamazaki Scotch is one of the worst whiskeys I have ever drunk. My mom has a bottle of 18 year Yamazaki, it’s so nasty.