Effects of aging in zero-gravity

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/07/31/suntory-plans-space-aged-whisky/

At first I thought "well the liquor won't be in contact with the barrel, so maybe that is interesting. But they're sending up glass samples, so it is a "study" of what happens to bottle spirits. And in Zero-G that has no significance, so it seems like a publicity stunt.

Still, relevant to the forum.

Haha, I just saw this comment about the article: "Suntory has challenged itself, before this decade is out, to put a bottle of Yamazaki Sherry Malt Cask 2013 on the ISS and return it safely to Earth"

I don't understand. I always thought that spirits did not "age" in bottles. I thought aging involved contact with wood (or some other suitable substance).

Besides, how will differences between "space aged" spirits and earth bound spirits be determined? Too many questions remain...

...

Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting

Gig103 said:

Haha, I just saw this comment about the article: "Suntory has challenged itself, before this decade is out, to put a bottle of Yamazaki Sherry Malt Cask 2013 on the ISS and return it safely to Earth"

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I wonder if by "return it safely to Earth" they mean "Ensure the astronauts don't drink it all".

Effects of aging in zero-gravity

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Less sagging.

Gig103 said:

At first I thought "well the liquor won't be in contact with the barrel, so maybe that is interesting. But they're sending up glass samples, so it is a "study" of what happens to bottle spirits. And in Zero-G that has no significance, so it seems like a publicity stunt.

Still, relevant to the forum.

Click to expand...

BlackBard said:

I don't understand. I always thought that spirits did not "age" in bottles. I thought aging involved contact with wood (or some other suitable substance).

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I suspect that in order to go into space, it needs to be in a container which can survive partial or complete depressurization, and one which cannot 'leak' any amount of substance (think Angel's Share). That would rule out a normal cask.

However, there's nothing stopping them from sending the raw spirit up in a vessel which contains oak staves or chips. This would allow it to age in space.


Of course, I'm not really clear on how zero-gee is expected to make things happen any differently. I agree that it's mostly a publicity stunt.

BlackBard said:

I don't understand. I always thought that spirits did not "age" in bottles. I thought aging involved contact with wood (or some other suitable substance). Besides, how will differences between "space aged" spirits and earth bound spirits be determined? Too many questions remain...

Click to expand...

Your comment about aging is my understanding too. Aside from that I don't see how it would make any difference unless possibly a total vacuum makes some difference.

I could see zero G making a difference with a traditional cask that has both air and spirit, because the spirit would not have the same contact with the barrel as it floats. By the way Kazeryu, including wood chips isn't something I considered but could see being the case. I still stick to my "publicity stunt" determination.