A Japanese distillery is sending whiskey to the ISS for science

There are many different processes and routines when it comes to aging whiskey, but this may be the most unique one yet. A Japanese distillery known as Suntory has announced that it will be sending five bottles of its whiskey, which has been called the best in the world, to the International Space Station where it will become the first whiskey in history to be aged in space. While nobody expects this to affect the whiskey, it’s definitely an interesting achievement. 

When it comes to creating new and exciting ways to age whiskey, no company does it better than the Japanese distillery, Suntory. After taking home the impressive distinction of producing the world’s best whiskies, this forward-thinking group decided not to rest on its laurels, and has recently announced plans to send five bottles of its darling nectar to age in space. In a press announcement released by Suntory, operation Elucidating the Mechanism Mellowing Alcohol Beverage — a fancy way of saying “finding out what zero-gravity does to the flavor of booze” — begins on August 16 when a box of spirits will travel to the International Space Station. Traveling aboard the HTV5 transfer vehicle, the shipment will launch at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center and will be placed in the ISS’ Japanese Experiment Module (aka Kibo). For the sake of getting a true barometer on what zero-gravity does to its products, Suntory intends to send samples of a recently distilled whiskey as well as a 21-year-old single malt.