Japanese Beer, Happoushu, Dai-san Beer

[helenjp]

This definitely needs its own topic!

Currently in Japan there are....

Beers, from lagers and occasionally pilseners to "kuro-biiru" or black beers. There are locally-brewed beers (ji-biiru, should mean a small independent brewery but sometimes means a regional product from some of the biggies), but the four biggies are Sapporo, Suntory, Kirin, and Asahi.

The best known second-tier makers are Orion (Okinawa) and Higashi-Nihon Sawauchi (makers of Ginga-Kougen beer).

The big breweries all (? I think all?) produce soft-drinks as well as beers, and non-beer products such canned chuu-hai (shouchuu mixed drinks).

They have their flagship long-seller beers, and also an ever-changing range of items designed to catch the latest trend, and other products limited to certain seasons or certain regions.

I believe that low-malt "happoushu" are the biggest-selling beer products at present. Hiroyuki linked to this wikipedia overview in another topic, and as it points out, the category includes both malt-based and malt-free beers, but "low-malt" is the general concept.

The third category, "Dai-san no biiru" is the category most closely associated with zero-malt beer-flavored drinks that are "spiked" with some form of spirits.

As for what people actually drink...of the happoushu, our favorite is probably Kirin's Ryoshitsu Sozai, though Asahi's Goku-uma is OK. I find the "dai-san" beers a bit harsh, but haven't tried many.

On high days and holidays, my husband might treat himself to a can of Black Label, Ebisu or Ebisu black (Sapporo), or Malts (Suntory).

[Pouncy]

There's a decently active Japan group over on ratebeer.com as well.

This is their rating board for Japanese brews and beer resources, and they have a fair number of get togethers. My husband is decently involved with them, and it sounds like they're a good bunch of guys!

http://www.ratebeer.com/BestInMyArea.asp?CountryID=105

[_john]

I don't drink beer that often but I do always have Ginga Kogen Komugi Beer stocked in my fridge. I think it is the best beer that you can buy fairly conveniently. but 248¥ for a can. There is a good local beer factory in Minoh called Minoh Beer that makes a good weizen. I seek out places that serve it when I go out. I really don't like average Japanese beer at all All the non-beer beers make me a little bit sad too. I don't think Ebisu is all it is cracked up to be either.

[nakji]

I really enjoy Hitachino Nest when I can get my hands on it! In my area, there are a couple of nice local brews from in and around Kamakura. I usually just drink the Asahi silver can, but I think I've drunk some of the Happoushu by accident, thinking it was really beer. Anyone care to post the kanji for it?

[Hiroyuki]

I really enjoy Hitachino Nest when I can get my hands on it!  In my area, there are a couple of nice local brews from in and around Kamakura. I usually just drink the Asahi silver can, but I think I've drunk some of the Happoushu by accident, thinking it was really beer. Anyone care to post the kanji for it?

←

Happoushu is 発泡酒.

I didn't know, but there are two types of daisan beer 第三のビール:

その他の醸造酒（発泡性）（1）

Other brewed sake (sparkling) (1)

リキュール（発泡性）（1）

Liqueur (sparkling) (1)

[budrichard]

Sadly most Japanese beer in the USA is now 'Imported' from Canada except for Kirin which is made by Budweiser in Los Angeles. I have three 1 liter cans of Asahi 'Super Dry' made in Japan left. After they are gone no more in the USA!.-Dick

Edited April 6, 2008 by budrichard (log)

[Peter Green]

Sadly most Japanese beer in the USA is now 'Imported' from Canada except for Kirin which is made by Budweiser in Los Angeles. I have three 1 liter cans of Asahi 'Super Dry' made in Japan left. After they are gone no more in the USA!.-Dick

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My friend, Aidan, from dipsophilia, was pointing out to me that there are three "Japanese" beers available in Vancouver, and not one of them is actually brewed in Japan.

[JasonTrue]

Actually I thought this has been true for a while... Sapporo, Asahi and Kirin all have beer brewed in North America. The price is actually slightly lower than in Japan.

I'm not a beer drinker, so I couldn't tell you if the taste is different than the Japanese-brewed ones, however, most of the low-alcohol beers don't like to be stored for a long time, and both beer and sake don't like to be in very hot temperatures. So unless the beer is transported in refrigerated shipping containers like some of the better sake, you are probably losing a lot of quality during the ocean transport, except in winter months.

Hitachino is, to my knowledge, still brewed in Japan.

Sadly most Japanese beer in the USA is now 'Imported' from Canada except for Kirin which is made by Budweiser in Los Angeles. I have three 1 liter cans of Asahi 'Super Dry' made in Japan left. After they are gone no more in the USA!.-Dick

←

My friend, Aidan, from dipsophilia, was pointing out to me that there are three "Japanese" beers available in Vancouver, and not one of them is actually brewed in Japan.

←

[budrichard]

A few years ago sitting at a Japanese Sushi bar in the US, we ordered our regular Asahi 'Super Dry'. I remarked to my wife after tasting that "it tastes different'. As I read the label, brewed in Canada was plainly written. Any time you change the location of production of an agricultural product, the taste changes. Until just now we had been purchasing 'Super Dry' from Japan at Mitsuwa near Chicago but that has changed. You are correct that for the time being Hitachino is still from Japan.-Dick

[nakji]

I went to the Great Japan Beer Festival with my husband today in the Yokohama Osanbashi hall, on the waterfront.

This festival provided the opportunity to sample some of the best ji-biiru available in Japan. This event is also held in Tokyo and Osaka, and friends told me the Tokyo event is plagued with long lines and waits. The crowds were manageable today, and the hot steamy weather made the thought of spending all afternoon sampling cold beer even more delightful.

Osanbashi Hall is beautifully sculpted out of glass and wood, and sits on the cruise ship pier on the harbourfront.

I don't actually go into central Yokohama that often, but I'm always struck by how beautiful and unique the waterfront area is.

In the hall were 69 different companies offering at least two beers each; and grouped by region. Tickets were 3,600 yen each, and included a 50 ml glass to be used for sampling - making the event more eco-friendly, I guess. Plus helping with the clean-up.

I have no real experience in beer-tasting, although I know what I like. I've been a fan of Hitachino Nest for a while. I especially enjoy their Weizen and White beers. Since we live in Shonan area, we also occasionally have a few bottles of Shonan Beer, which is quite smooth, and especially refreshing on a hot day. Aside from that, we had no experience with other local brews from around Japan.

(As for international beers, I like Hoegarden if I'm drinking before noon; Leffe Blonde if the sun's over the yardarm. That's just to let you know where my preferences lie as a baseline. )

Between us, my husband and I tasted a heroic 20 beers. I wrote brief notes on each of them, which in no way correspond to the sort of notes beer experts might generate. I apologize for their amateur nature in advance.

Shiroyama from Kagoshima

Herb Ale - grassy. Nice, but nothing special.

Hideji

Smoking Mole - Dry and smooth. Faint roasted taste. Went down very quick. I'm sorry I didn't go back for more of this.

Miyoshi

Weizen - tasted like bubblegum and bananas. Too sweet for me.

Aki (seasonal fall beer) - An ale with hints of molasses. Warm and smooth. Quite enjoyable.

Daigen G

Weizen - light caramel flavour; a contrast to the Miyoshi - much less sweet. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and went back for more later. It's available at our local supermarket as well.

Hitachino Nest

Clearly marked as the number one craft beer exported to the U.S.

Sweet Stout - I'm normally not a stout fan, but this surprised me. It was lighter than your average stout, with a light roasted taste with a molasses and burnt sugar undertone. I'd drink it again

Ginger Ale - Gingery without being spicy. I wanted to like it more than I did. I wrote I thought it would be nice with cheese, but perhaps I was just wishing for a bit of cheese at that point.

White - Always my favourite, it's grassy and citrusy. A good morning beer.

Coedo

Excellent beers here.

Weizen - Two stars in my notes. Pine; clean. But not Pine-cleaner.

Barley Wine - Heavy and syrupy with an assertive alcohol taste, but not unpleasant. The sort of beer I'd want for breakfast if I were in a sugaring cabin in Quebec.

Daikoku

I wanted to try their Soba Dark, but they were sold out. I ended up trying their stout, not because I'm much of a stout fan, but because there was no line-up, and they were stuck next to Hitachino Nest, with a vast crowd, and I quite frankly felt a little bad for them. I'm glad I did.

Oya Brasserie Stout - Like drinking 80% dark chocolate, a rich roasted taste without being heavy or cloying - like a really excellent cup of French Roast coffee; a good beer to drink in a Jazz club or while writing angry letters to someone who has jilted you.

to be continued....

[nakji]

continued

The crowd wasn't too big, and lines were moving really quickly, which really helped us make the rounds. In the middle of the hall were blocks of ice for rolling your glass around in between bouts; I'm not sure if this is a standard touch at beer festivals, but it seemed to keep the kids occupied. The other nice thing was the laid-back atmosphere, with a lot of young people in yukatas. A stunning number of witty t-shirts were on display; my favourites being: "Proudly brewed in New Jersey. You gotta problem with that?" and "Friends don't let friends Vote Republican", which made me laugh out loud, to the obvious gratification of the wearer; a man who I assume was a member of the American armed forces.

We pressed on through the beers.

Ginga Kogen

Another favourite, and not just for the pretty blue bottle.

Pale Ale - hints of toast and barley. I went back for more.

Shonan

Ruby - Refreshing and mildly citrusy - gulpable. I put two stars next to it - not as assertively citrus as a lot of the Weizens, which I find can get sickly after a glass or two. Very drinkable over a long stretch, if you need that kind of beer.

Shonan brewery also has a bakery that incorporates their beer into the bread, and a restaurant nearby my home in Chigasaki, where they do excellent work with Napoli-style pizzas. Their label features a distinctive rock that can be seen in the bay near Enoshima island.

Sankgallen

Sweet Vanilla Stout - My husband and I got into an argument here. He got me to taste it without telling me the name, and then asked me, "What's the opposite of chocolate?", and I replied, "Caramel?", which disgusted him completely, as it's apparently obvious to all and sundry that Vanilla is the opposite of chocolate. But it tasted more like caramel to me, so there.

Yokohama Brewery

Pilsner - Light tasting; like popcorn. Not particularly memorable.

Birra Rossa Catania- Possibly made with blood oranges, from what I could tell from the literature. Astringent and citrusy.

Beer Lao

Obviously not a Japanese beer, but one of the distributors had some bottles of Beer Lao Dark, which we tried for nostalgia's sake. If you're going to be an obscure country, your claim to fame had might as well be best beer in Asia. I'm not sure if that claim holds up to rigorous tasting, but I feel like we should throw Laos a bone here.

Taste fatigue had really started to set in at this point, so we took a break to visit the space-age toilets. One thing I love about Japan is that the toilet rolls are always full.

Then we had some energy left for a final round.

Fujizakura Heights

Rauch - What a beer to wake up the taste buds. I can honestly say I've never had anything like this. Mesquite, barbecue, and smoky (as opposed to roasted) flavours dominated. Not a beer I could drink all the time, but interesting nonetheless.

Yona Yona - from Nagoya

Ale - I also starred this one. I wrote, smooth, drinkable, fruity; which is a bit of a miracle, since my fine motor skills were beginning to go at this point.

They also had a Tokyo dark beer, but there's only so much stout one can drink, I think.

Gotemba Kogen

Our favourite of the day. We'd sampled this beer from this brewery before, when we visited Hakone last fall. They're also available in our supermarket, and we occasionally indulge in their Weizen when we're feeling flush. (It's usually around 500 yen per bottle)

Weizen Bock - "The colour of a Belgian", according to my husband - not really sure what he meant by that. I wrote, "citrus notes, some alcohol; buttery vanilla buttercream. Lovelovelove. I went back for another glass, I'll admit it.

Schwarz - My husband tried it just so he could say, "Use the Schwarz!" No comments other than that.

Kinshachi - Nagoya

Pilsner - I wrote, "tastes like beer", which I think is because the sorts of beers I was brought up on are based on this style. But I was also pretty far gone at this point.

My notes degenerated from there.

Overall, Weizen and stouts were heavily represented at most of the tables, along with a sprinkling of ales and pilsners. I saw one or two porters, and quite a few tables had IPA, which is the style of beer that's quite popular in my home province in Canada. My favourite was Gotemba, but I also liked Yona Yona and Shonan quite a bit as well.

I'm not sure if any of these get distributed outside of Japan, but they're worth a taste if you see them.

[_john]

I went to this festival when it was in Osaka. so much good beer! one of my favorites was a "caramel" beer. Another favorite was my local Minoh brewery's double IPA. Only complaint about the festival is that some beers ran out very quickly.

[nakji]

We were there on the second day, in the afternoon, and I only saw one or two "sold out" signs amongst all the booths. Perhaps attendance was lower in Yokohama - or maybe they brought more this time round! Either way, it was a great opportunity to try some beers that I normally wouldn't. I'll admit, a bottle of Gotemba Weizen found its way into my shopping cart today at the supermarket.

[Peter Green]

Thank you very much for this, Erin!

I'd been looking at my Popeye coaster with longing these last few weeks, wishing there was something cold and frosty on top of it, and your pictures and descriptions are a reasonable substitute (okay, I'd still like a cold one!)

There wasn't as much in the way of barley wines. I was surprised, as they'd made up a fair percentage of the product at Popeye when I'd been tasting my way through there (they were Scud's favourites).

And I was extremely happy to see Beer Lao make a cameo! Did they only bring the dark, or was the regular there, too?

Cheers!

Peter

[nakji]

There were two Barleywines that I saw, but I didn't get near all the booths, so there might have been more. The one we tried was lovely, but I'm not sure how much of it I could drink at a sitting. They were quite sweet to my taste.

And I was extremely happy to see Beer Lao make a cameo! Did they only bring the dark, or was the regular there, too?

Just the dark, actually. Which is a shame, because I love the regular, as well. Happy memories.

[Sukie]

I'm a wine drinker but I love, love, love having a Sapporo whenever I go for sushi...

Yum!

[Peter Green]

Can anyone shed any light on this beer and its brewer? Aidan (Mr. Beer) found this in Hawaii. It was the only Japanese beer they had (as opposed to the others, which were all brewed elsewhere for export).

Art Series beers?

Thanks,

Peter

[Hiroyuki]

The brewer is Echigo Beer.

The official website is

http://www.echigo-beer.jp/

That beer, Koshihikari Echigo Beer, uses Koshihikari rice, and is brewed with the decoction technique.

I didn't recognize that beer at first, but I had the canned version of it several times before. If I remember it correctly, it was light and dry (wasn't it?).

[Peter Green]

The brewer is Echigo Beer.

The official website is

http://www.echigo-beer.jp/

That beer, Koshihikari Echigo Beer, uses Koshihikari rice, and is brewed with the decoction technique.

I didn't recognize that beer at first, but I had the canned version of it several times before.  If I remember it correctly, it was light and dry (wasn't it?).

←

Thanks, Hiroyuki!

We haven't tried it yet, we just admired the bottle. It was one of those evenings where we were toasted just enough to appreciate that we wouldn't taste it properly (as opposed to further baked, at which point you open things you shouldn't.....hmmmm, was I half-baked?)

Cheers,

Peter