Kanpai! Space-brewed sake sells for almost $900,000
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An alcoholic fermentation process using sake ingredients was carried out in November 2025 inside facilities at the International Space Station.
PHOTO: DASSAI
TOKYO – A small bottle of Japanese sake, made from mash fermented in space, sold for almost US$700,000 (S$896,000), its brewer said as the company explores ways to make the drink on the Moon.
Sake brewer Dassai teamed up with aerospace and engineering company 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 2025 inside facilities at the ISS that mimicked lunar gravity, the two companies said in a joint statement, dated April 28.
The mash was returned to Earth in February and was refined into 116ml of sake in March in Japan.
The drink was packaged in a 100ml bottle and went to an anonymous buyer for 110 million yen (S$876,000).
The remaining 16ml 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 companies said.
“This result demonstrates experimentally that sake production is feasible, even under lunar-gravity conditions using a process comparable with that on Earth,” the companies said. It is something sake drinkers can say “kanpai” – a Japanese term that is like “cheers” – to.
Dassai says it wants to build a sake brewery on the Moon by 2050 to “improve quality of life for future lunar habitation”. AFP
