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If humans eventually colonize the moon, the early settlers might toast their success with a bottle of sake, realizing the dream of brewer Asahi Shuzo Co. Yamaguchi-based Asahi Shuzo, known for its Dassai sake brand, in February took a leap forward, unveiling at an event in Tokyo a bottle of high-end sake that it will attempt to brew in space. The price for the 100-milliliter bottle of Dassai Moon is 110 million yen -- the going rate for an alcoholic beverage produced in space given that it will be the first of its kind.
Inspired by the U.S.-led Artemis moon exploration program and other efforts to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, Asahi Shuzo is serious about wanting the eventual inhabitants to be able to enjoy a low-gravity tipple.
"It's not a case of trying it out once for the sake of publicity but rather starting with the Moon and moving on to other possibilities," Asahi Shuzo President and CEO Kazuhiro Sakurai told Kyodo News. Before any lunar endeavor, Asahi Shuzo will attempt to brew sake on the International Space Station where equipment will recreate the gravity of the moon's surface. The specialized brewing equipment and ingredients could be launched into orbit as early as September.
Speaking at the event in Tokyo, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi said that he and other astronauts are excited by the project, especially as brewing sake on the Moon would be a step beyond what has been achieved in space so far. "Until now, we were just taking something into space. Now they are actually going to make sake in space, which is a huge undertaking," Noguchi said.
Asahi Shuzo has made a habit of looking far beyond its base in the mountains of Iwakuni to seek new undertakings and new markets for its Dassai brand. In early December, when much of the industry was congratulating itself after the traditional knowledge and skills used in sake-brewing were added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, Asahi Shuzo was sending out updates about its aim to brew sake on the Moon. While Sakurai recognizes the UNESCO listing as a potential boon for sake, he is wary of complacency.
"I believe that sake can and must evolve," he said. "There's a significant risk of becoming fixated on the history when, with a higher quality of sake, there is potential to reach bigger markets." The bold ambitions of Asahi Shuzo came from a basic need to survive.
When Sakurai's father took over the family business in 1984, Asahi Shuzo was selling directly to local stores with a consumer base confined to a radius of around five kilometers. Across the sake industry, sales were in decline following the oil crisis of the early 1970s, a trend that would extend to the local population in the decades to come. The new president decided to break out of Yamaguchi, and Asahi Shuzo took its sake to Tokyo, in the form of the high-end junmai daiginjo choice brew.
That year, the company recorded sales of around 100 million yen. Between October 2023 and November 2024, sales reached 19.5 billion yen, with 45 percent coming from exports.
Eyeing the world stage, in January, Asahi Shuzo announced more developments. From June, it will change its name to Dassai Inc. to strengthen its brand globally.
After the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles on March 2, Dassai was served to Hollywood's elite at the Governors Ball afterparty -- the first time for a Japanese sake brand to feature on the cocktail menu as an event sponsor. Despite the glamor and the globetrotting, the company maintains its roots at its headquarters in a remote corner of western Japan. The approach follows mountain roads through a landscape of farms and quiet villages.
Until, that is, the main brewery building comes into view. At 12-stories, it would not look out of place in central Tokyo. The on-site store has the interior of a boutique.
Inside, there is no veteran toji , or master brewer. Instead, Asahi Shuzo employs a young crew of brewers, largely focused on making junmai daiginjo sake. Speaking in the brewery's analysis room in February, Sakurai was clad in an immaculate suit befitting his surroundings.
"I think it is important not to make sake the same way it was a hundred years ago," he said. "For us, making good sake means going beyond tradition. It means innovating and taking on new challenges.
" Behind Sakurai, staff in lab coats carried out tests and analyzed data. At one end of the room, charts covered the wall, each one detailing the alcohol content and temperature, among other conditions in tanks containing fermenting sake mash. "It allows us to see what's going on in each tank at a glance," Soya Uetsuki, chief of innovation and research, said.
With around 200 tanks to be monitored each day, that is 200 graphs to take in. Even with all the data and innovation, there are elements of sake-brewing at Asahi Shuzo that still demand the human touch. Inside the koji muro , the room where koji mold is added to steamed rice, the work of separating rice grains is hot, sweaty and hands-on.
In the fermentation room, staff plunge poles deep into tanks to stir the sake mash within, and in doing so release fruity aromas. At the end of the brewing process, the president and others gather to sample the pressed sake. Objectivity is key.
"This is not a discussion about how delicious it is, it's about judging whether or not it can be shipped," Uetsugi said. As for where Dassai will be shipped next and in what surroundings it will be served, there appears to be no limits. New York, Hollywood.
The moon. "It's so interesting to see how our sake can go out into the world and interact with the cultures and people of other countries to create something new," Sakurai said..
