Sake brewed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) using koji, rice, and brewing equipment sent by a Japanese sake producer has reportedly sold for more than 1 billion won.
According to Yomiuri Shimbun and other outlets on the 4th, Asahi Shuzo, the maker of premium sake Dassai, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries sent sake ingredients and brewing equipment to the ISS aboard the HTV-X cargo resupply spacecraft's first mission, which was launched last October from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Kyushu.
The two companies have been pursuing the "Dassai Moon Project," which aims to produce sake on the lunar surface by 2024. With the help of astronauts, they fermented sake for two weeks inside an ISS experiment module where lunar surface gravity was reproduced. The unfiltered sake mash (moromi), which serves as the raw material for sake, was then brought back to Earth and used to produce 116 milliliters of sake. The alcohol content of the sake was 12 percent, the same level as sake fermented on the ground.
A bottle of Dassai containing 100 milliliters of the sake, dubbed "Dassai MOON," was reportedly sold to a Japanese buyer for 110 million yen (approximately 1.03 billion won, including tax). The proceeds will be donated to Japan's space development efforts.
Dassai plans to conduct a detailed analysis of the sake lees and related components obtained from the experiment together with researchers at Tohoku University. The analysis will examine how the space environment affects yeast and how the product differs from food fermented on the ground.
Dassai is a renowned Japanese sake brand based in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in western Honshu, Japan. It is also famous as the sake that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe served to former U.S. President Barack Obama.
