Asahi Shuzo Co., the company behind the popular Japanese sake brand Dassai, announced that it will attempt to brew sake in the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo on the International Space Station (ISS).
However, space is not the final frontier for this company. As part of future lunar colonization, this project is the first step toward its ultimate goal of building a brewery on the moon.
According to Asahi Shuzo, which is based in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the company applied for and was approved in July to use Kibo. To bring this vision closer to reality, Asahi Shuzo will be launching rice, koji mold and yeast, to the ISS in late 2025.
The plan is that the raw materials for sake, such as rice, koji rice mold and yeast, will be fermented on Kibo to make 520 grams of moromi unrefined sake, which will be brought back to Earth in a frozen state to be made into sake. The brewing equipment to be brought to the station is currently under development.
If it is successful, a single 100ml bottle will be sold for 100 million yen, or roughly $653,000. A standard serve is 80ml, making it one very expensive drink.
The company believes that sake brewing is more suitable for space experiments than winemaking, since rice is lighter and contains less water than grapes.
“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.”
Dassai – meaning “otter festival” in Japanese – is one of the most popular sake brands on the market.
Cover Image Credit: Asahi Shuzo Co.