They're sending booze up to the International Space Station

Space Whiskey? Space whiskey.

After a long day at the office, there's nothing quite like a cold drink - but for astronauts working on the ISS, a non-alcoholic fruit punch is the most they can hope for.

Now, one of the world's finest whiskey distilleries is sending their top-end product into space.

[comment] For relaxing times: The whiskey famously featured in 'Lost in Translation'.[/comment]

Unfortunately for the astronauts - who are, after all, on a mission - it's not for them.

It's all part of a science experiment from Japanese distiller Suntory, whose whiskeys regularly take top top prizes (and are currently the makers of the world's best whiskey, according the World Whisky Bible).

They want to find out what happens to the flavour of whiskey in low-gravity. Scientists, they say, do not have a full understanding of why a flavour in booze mellows as it ages, but they've got a theory.

They think it's down to the molecular structure, and with the help of Tokyo University and the University of Tokyo, have concluded that when you stop liquid convection, you'll get just the right results.

They hope that by ageing their whiskies in the convection-free low-gravity environment on the ISS, they'll find the secret to a perfectly mellow dram.

Sadly, they'll be sealed in glass containers, and left up there for at least a year - some longer - and are not for consumption.

The mission will take place in 'Kibo', the Japanese module of the ISS, with five different types of product in the test.

And who knows? If it all goes to plan, perhaps in a decade we'll all be drinking space whiskey, and wondering why we ever thought stacking oak barrels in a dark cellar made sense.

— Suntory company, via the folks at Wired.