Space-brewed Japanese alcohol sells for sh2.6b

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A small bottle of Japanese sake, made from mash fermented in space, sold for almost $700,000 (about sh2.6b), its brewer said as the company explores ways to make the drink on the Moon.

Sake brewer Dassai teamed up with aerospace and engineering firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build specialised brewing equipment and send it to the International Space Station (ISS) along with sake ingredients.

The alcoholic fermentation process was carried out in November inside facilities at the ISS that mimicked lunar gravity, the two firms said in a joint statement, dated Tuesday.

The mash was returned to Earth in February and was refined into 116 millilitres (four fluid ounces) of sake in March in Japan.

The drink was packaged in a 100-millilitre bottle and went to an anonymous buyer for 110 million yen ($686,000). The remaining 16 millilitres allowed for taste tests.

"It offers a pronounced acidity. It has a well-balanced and robust sake flavour," a Dassai spokeswoman told AFP.

Proceeds from the sale will be donated to support Japan's space development efforts, the two firms said.

"This result demonstrates experimentally that sake production is feasible even under lunar-gravity conditions using a process comparable to that on Earth," the firms said.
Dassai says it wants to build a sake brewery on the moon by 2050 to "improve quality of life for future lunar habitation".