International
Sake made in space could sell for $500,000 a glass
Tokyo
CNN
—
A Japanese sake maker is going where no sake maker has gone before: space.
Asahi Shuzo, the company behind popular Japanese sake brand Dassai, plans to blast sake ingredients to the International Space Station (ISS) to ferment a very special brew.
If it works, just one 100ml bottle will be offered for sale on Earth at 100 million yen, or about $653,000. A standard serve is 80ml, making it one very expensive drink.
“There is no guarantee of 100% success for the fermentation tests,” said Souya Uetsuki, the brewer in charge of the project at Asahi Shuzo.
He said the difference in gravity could affect how heat transfers in fluid, causing a different fermentation process in space than on Earth.
The company has paid Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for access to the Kibo experiment module, part of the ISS developed by Japan, where tests can be conducted in a “special microgravity environment.”