Space-Aged Whiskey

In a tweet from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, the cylindrical HTV-5 “Kounotori” cargo ship floats high above the clouds and green sprawl of Earth below. The next image posted shows the International Space Station (ISS)’s robotic arm, controlled by JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, grasping the ship, which carries a payload of around 4.5 metric tons, including mice, food and water, a host of devices and whiskey.

Yes, whiskey.

Suntory Global Innovation Center, known for its award-winning whiskey, sent six samples of alcohol to be aged on the space station.

“With the exception of some items like beer, alcoholic beverages are widely known to develop a mellow flavor when aged for a long time,” reads a statement from Suntory. “Although researchers have taken a variety of scientific approaches to elucidating the underlying mechanism, we still do not have a full picture of how this occurs.”

HTV-5 was launched on Aug. 19, and arrived at the ISS Monday morning.

According to Suntory, whiskies in group one will be aged for one year, while whiskies in group two will age for two, or more years.

“Our company has hypothesized the ‘formation of high-dimensional molecular structure consisting of water, ethanol and other ingredients in alcoholic beverages contributes to the development of mellowness,’” the statement reads.


Suntory has been conducting collaborative studies on the subject with Tohoku Univ.’s Institute of Fluid Science, the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute and Suntory Foundation for life Sciences. Results suggested “mellowness develops by promoted formation of the high-dimensional molecular structure in the alcoholic beverage in environments where liquid convection is suppressed,” according to the company.

Onboard the ISS, the whiskies will age in a convection-free state created by the microgravity environment. The results may help Suntory determine a scientific explanation for the mellowing of alcohol.

The samples are being stored in the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesperson for Suntory said the samples include a 21-year-old single malt, and a beverage recently distilled.

The space-aged whiskeys will be compared to identical samples being stored on the ground in Japan.