This is somewhat depressing news given my inclination towards quality real ale:
Kirin to enter market for ‘3rd-category beer’ this springThursday, January 13, 2005 at 07:00 JST
TOKYO — Kirin Brewery Co said Wednesday it will join three other major Japanese breweries this spring in offering a product known as “the third-category beer,” a beer-tasting alcoholic beverage that is in a lower tax bracket because of its ingredients. The beer-like beverage accounted for about 5% of sales of beer and the like in 2004, underlying a growing demand for the new beverage, said Kirin President Koichiro Aramaki. (Kyodo News)
Once can only presume that the 3rd level is below discount. Can any Asian correspondents enlighten us on this? Interesting to note that the Asia Times is reporting a concurrent decline in overall Japanese beer consumption and a move to the third way as an effort to get around taxation. Guinness, one of the great beers of the world in both an economic and quality sense, was created for the very same reason when Britain moved to the taxation of malt included in beer rather than the final alcohol content (if I am recollecting correctly…I did! See here). The result was a beer high in unmalted raw rolled barley and blackened but raw roast barley and a resulting low-carb profile. I suspect the Japanese will not come up with such a happy outcome.
[Original comments…]
myrick – January 16, 2005 5:51 AM
http://myrick.blogspot.com
As you surmised, the Japanese low-malt beers are pretty bad – though still better than many regular Asian lagers. Japan picked up a rather solid tradition of brewing from the Germans (don’t mention the war) and are a rather quality-minded nation. I’ll try to pick up a couple of cans for review (though I’m rather late at assembling a couple of other posts, which I will do first.)
Alan – January 16, 2005 9:32 AM
Myrick is on the job.
Dan – April 19, 2005 9:27 PM
I was looking forward to the release of the two new beers, one by Kirin and the other Asahi, until I tasted either of them. I was under the false apprehension that they were actually beer, when in fact, they taste like soy-soaked water with a hint of alcohol. I am of Czech lineage and live in Japan, and am very happy with the normal Kirin Lager or Yebisu, which are very much along the same lines as the original Pilsners. However, these “fake” beers, as all my friends call them are nothing like the same as Kirin’s regular beer, or even on the same planet as Pilsener Urquell or other classic lagers. What surprises and worries me the most, however, is the fact that most Japanese are amazed that I can tell the difference between the Japanese beers – especially the difference between beer and “happoshu” (fake beer). Why do they produce such decent regular beers if they cannot tell the difference between them and watered down alcoholic soya juice?!
yo – December 15, 2005 8:10 AM
I thought you might be interested in hearing a Japanese opinion on this topic. I really don’t drink that much but I’ll give you my dad’s reaction to “happoshu” We once bought him a can and he absolutely hated it. He said it tasted so awful it gave him a headache and he’s never had one again.