The world’s most expensive whiskey aging contraption.
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The experiment marks another high point in Suntory’s rising worldwide profile, after the Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 was recently hailed by British whiskey writer Jim Murray as the best whisky in the world.
The samples will be carried to the space station on 16 August on Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s transfer vehicle Kounotori.
The company hopes to learn how the ultimate zero gravity environment affects the taste of their products, he added. 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.
A few samples will remain in the ISS for a year and be returned to Suntory for evaluation.
Researchers at Suntory claim that the experiment will serve to help the industry understand how spirits “mellow” with age.
A company spokesman announced that the samples will be sent to the global Space Station in glass flasks, testing research that has found whisky becomes “mellower” when aged in an environment with minimal temperature change, convection of fluids and shaking.
Distilleries have responded to the coming shortage by raising prices, lowering proofs, and getting creative about developing new whiskey blends in shorter periods of time.
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Among their efforts to continually improve upon their prized beverage, Suntory will be sending six varieties of whiskey, aged for 10, 18, and 21 years, along with recently distilled beverages, to outer space as part of an experiment.
