In 2015 Japan decided to send some whiskey to astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Believe it or not, there was some actual science behind the orbital alcohol delivery service: they wanted to see if spirits mellowed at the same pace in outer space as they did on Earth. But the astronauts weren’t able to taste a drop. In order to assess the effect of gravity and lack of convection on the liquid, it needed to come back in one piece. And that meant the Japanese expected a sealed bottle when it arrived back on terra firma. What’s more, the government agencies that send astronauts into space prohibit drinking alcohol. So what did it taste like? Well, after some samples of single malt sent up a few years before by Scotland’s Ardbeg Distillery eventually came back down to Earth, those at the Glenmorangie company that tasted it said it had an aftertaste “with hints of wood, antiseptic lozenges, and rubbery smoke.”
