Suntory, Japan's distillery whose whisky was crowned as world's best in 2014, is sending its beverages into space.
In a surprisingly down-to-earth press release, the company focused on its scientific efforts, calling this endeavor an "experiment on the development of mellowness in alcoholic beverage through the use of a microgravity environment.”
In practice, this means Suntory will send five types of its whisky (as well as a bottle of 40% ethanol) into space in August, leave it to mature for one, two or more years, and see how mellow it gets. The whisky will be stored at the International Space Station, while an identical set of samples will be stored in Japan for the same period of time. As for getting there, Suntory's whisky will be sent to the ISS aboard the HTV5 transfer vehicle, scheduled to be launched from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center on August 16.
There seems to be real science involved here, as Suntory has teamed up with researchers from Tohoku University's Institute of Fluid Science, Tokyo University's Institute for Solid State Physics, the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute and the Suntory Foundation for Life Sciences. They hypothesize that a microgravity environment will have an effect on the mellowing of alcoholic beverages.
There's no word on whether anyone will ever be able to buy this space whisky.
Besides whisky connoisseurs, movie buffs might also recognize Suntory as the whisky featured in Lost in Translation. Maybe Bill Murray would've been a little more enthusiastic about promoting it if it were space whisky.