Photo via Suntory
Photo via Suntory

Forget oak barrels — Japanese distillery Suntory is sending its world-famous whisky to age in space.

That’s right. Suntory is conducting perhaps the greatest experiment in alcohol ever to determine the “development of mellowness in alcoholic beverage through the use of a microgravity environment,” as it stated in this press release.

Suntory is known for its excellent whisky. Last year its Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 was named the world’s best by Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2015, but it seems making the best whisky on earth is not enough. The company ultimately wants to determine the “mechanism that makes alcohol mellow,” something that still puzzles researchers and whisky makers everywhere.

The great space whisky experiment will happen on the International Space Station’s Japanese Experiment Module (nicknamed “Kibo”), with the help of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). JAXA will launch the two groups of whisky experiments on Aug. 16. The first group will be left to age on the ISS about a year, the second at least two years or longer.

Suntory hypothesizes that zero gravity will help make the whisky “mellower,” with its research on earth indicating that an environment with little temperature change, convection of fluids and shaking tends to make better booze.

Will space whisky be better than earth whisky? Don’t get excited yet. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company will bring back the whisky to be sampled in the lab only.

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