MECCA

I have found it. It shall be the place that inhabits my dreams until I am able to visit. Tokyo is quite the hike from Toei...but this calls for a road trip. The most beers on tap in the entire country!!!!!! The brews are hand picked from only the best microbreweries in Japan by the owner/operator, and it looks like they have quite the selection. As I said, I've never been there, so if you have please leave your review below. We WILL be going soon!!!

1/25/10- REVISED: http://www.jibeer.com/2010/01/we-made-it-to-popeyes.html

It's the weekend!!!!!

Have we got a weekend planned or what? Here in Japan, the weekends can mean a great deal to an ALT. A great weekend plan can help get you through the doldrums of everyday teaching class by looking forward to the excitement, and help you blow off some steam and vent the frustration that inevitably builds up from being a foreigner in Japan. If you find yourself relating to anything at all that I just said, you must be a teacher, and you will be jealous of our weekend!
One more thing, for the more rural ALTs out there, the weekend is a must. My personal experience can bring this point home. I spend all week, Sunday night throughout Friday afternoon, in a town of about 4,500 where I am one of two foreign people. I didn’t say “one of two Americans” or “one of two white boys.” Other than myself and one other person that lives up in the hills, everyone in my town is Japanese. You can imagine that by week’s end, I am ready to get out of town.
This weekend is the annual JET Halloween party. Actually it is sponsored by JETs, but anyone and everyone is encouraged to attend. Costumes will be abundant, the air will be filled with laughter, and fun will be had by all. The Halloween party is an all you can eat/drink affair, so use your imagination and think about what 100 foreign teachers in the second largest city in Japan act like on Halloween night. Yup.
After this great night of fun and friends (hopefully a few good brews!!) we plan on heading to two breweries in Hamamatsu on Saturday. Hamamatsu is only about a thirty-minute train ride away from Toyohashi, so we should have a full day of touring and tasting to enjoy. As soon as we return, we will post our pictures and opinions.
Sunday will take us to a local restaurant where our favorite chef will teach us how to cook some good Japanese food, and Monday will see my return to Toei and the immensely popular Flower festival, or Hana Matsuri, or 花祭。
We hope your weeks will fly by and bring you that much closer to the relaxation that only Friday night can bring. Coming soon will be our review of the first bottle of Hickey Brother’s Kentucky Common, and a review of an item that every beer lover has to have. It will be an exciting week!!!

Asahi Ginger Draft...begging for your yen!

Tahara is not Nagoya. Nick sends me a message that The Black is here, I get all excited, ride my bike to Atsumi foods, 7-ll, liquor stores...no Black. I come back to my apartment a little disapointed but not empty handed. Yes, Japanese Beer always has a few tricks up its sleeve. In this case, Asahi is jumping ahead of the competion, going only where microbreweries have before, with the new Asahi Ginger Draft!

I was a little surprised when I saw the green can with the crazy cursive "Ginger Draft" writing, pressing it's aluminum rim and tab against the beer cooler door. It had fogged the glass with some excess force carbonation and written "bye me puresu" with a finger it doesn't have. Japanese Beer, like chugakko students, can't spell that well. I dropped 159 yen on the can making it Happoshu cost. From the beginning I know to expect no taste. I take the can home.

By beer standards, Ginger Draft is not good. However, it is cheap and better than many other Happoshus. With this out of the way, we will discuss how the beer sucks and how the beer does not suck. By putting the "not suck" part last, I hope to end this review on a good note.

How this beer sucks: Aside from the ginger it has no taste. I read the can and it says the beer is 25% malt. Do I believe this? Maybe. They might as well make it 0% malt for the complete lack of malty goodness.

How it does not suck: It tastes like ginger ale without sugar! Let's look at the identifiable characteristics of this beer... It has ginger and bubbles. Dump this 3 parts to 1 with some Mitsuya Cider (that's Japanese Sprite) and you have alcoholic ginger ale. The can says that it is 5.5% alcohol. Again, I am a bit sceptical of this, it tastes like 0.5% alcohol, but water over alcohol taste is a trademark of most happoshus.

In conclusion, this beer is not bad. If you see it at your local beer gettin' hole, then scoop it up at least once. The 159 yen price tag won't compromise your rent payment next month. I like Ginger. When I was young I used to get a can of ginger ale out of the fridge, climb up in a tree, drink it, and throw the can back down on the ground. Ginger ale was the only coke/soda/pop (What state are you from?) beverage that I became elevated to drink. My mom has always told me that eating candied ginger will stop sea and plane sickness. I don't know if this true but I do like candied ginger. And I kinda like this beer.

Tomorrow is the Halloween party in Sakae! My crew and I are gonna take first in the costume contest. The bringing is already ready to be brought!

Green Tea Beer!!!!

No one could pass this up. Nate and Miyuki stumbled across this in the local Atsumi Food Oasis (great name huh?) in Tahara. Atsumi Foods is known for its great selection of international cuisine, and the freshest seafood that I have ever seen. Sometimes you can see the fish and shrimp still alive in the packages. Now that’s what I call fresh!
Anyways, while perusing the aisles at Atsumi Foods, Nate and Miyuki came across this:
For those that can’t read Japanese (join the club!) the bottle plainly says: Green Tea Draft. Yikes. Are you serious? Green Tea Beer? If you have ever tasted green tea, you may be thinking what we were… “I don’t know about this…”
This isn’t the first time that a Japanese staple has found its way into the brew pot. Rogue (GREAT GREAT BEERS!!!) created classics when they teamed with world-renowned chef, Masaharu Morimoto to create Soba ale. Real Iron Chef Morimoto and Rogue used soba (buckwheat) to make some great tasting ale. Buckwheat, which oddly isn’t related to wheat at all, is very nutritious and gives beer a wonderfully complex nutty taste, when roasted properly. Morimoto also created some other styles with Rogue worth trying, but alas, not found (yet!) in Japan.
This is enough to make one curious enough to try the green tea draft. The other night Nate, Miyuki, and myself cracked this baby open and gave her the old college try. In the glass, the beer looked very cloudy, and had the color that reminded me of a hefeweisen. The beer smelled, strangely enough, like beer and green tea.
Now comes the most important part: taste! We each tasted the brew, then wrote down our reviews, talked about them, tasted some more, paired the beer with food, and came up with the following paragraph that sums up the intricacies of this beer:


It tastes like shit.


I wish I could tell you different. It has a little beer taste, then the bitter green tea taste hits your tongue like a Cry Baby used to. I mean this beer is awful. I don’t know how this swill got past quality control at the brewery. I can’t imagine ever craving this beer, or that I will ever drink one ever again. Add to that the extreme downside that this crap is over $5 a bottle!!! Wow. I am known for my uncanny ability to enjoy any beer, thus creating my motto of, “I have yet to meet the ale for which I didn’t care.” This stuff made me eat crow. Crow, which of course tasted better than the green tea beer. We leave you with this Good Beer Country Boys warning: AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!


P.S. Thanks to The Disgruntled Chemist for his pic of the soba ale! Check out his site for some more great beer reviews!!!

It's Back!

I was relaxing in the apartment when my cell phone started buzzing. I flipped it open. There was a message from Nick. "what, muhfuckas, it's back!" Under the message was a photo of Nick holding two cans of the...wait for it... Suntory Malts Black! It is back!

For those of you who do not know, Suntory Malts Black is the hood rat cousin of The Malts that only comes around for the holidays. And now it is here. I could go on and on about it, or I could walk across the street to 7 11 with my fingers crossed hoping it has come to Tahara. Rather than describe the delicious malty goodness of a Black, I challenge whoever reads this to go out and drink one instead. You won't regret it.

When in Rome...or Sakae!!!!

In our unending effort to help you find great beer in Japan, the Good Beer Country Boys have solicited the help of several of our friends around Aichi. Many of these folks are ‘experts’ on great places to procure excellent brew and enjoy some great atmosphere. Today’s recommendations are for those looking for some great places to go in Nagoya, submitted by our good buddy Nick Riley. Nick is himself a country boy down deep, hailing from Kansas by way of Hawaii. If you find yourself in Nagoya hankering for a good brew and some time to kill, check out Nick’s favorite places!!!!


Nick Says:

Since Heaven's Door closed, I've been rather fond of street drinking. (i.e. drinking store-bought beers on the street) Around town, there're a few places around town that offer quality beers around town (in no particular order except for number 1 around town):

1. Spirits

My personal favorite. I could probably follow those yellow, blind-people-lines to this place with a blindfold on. I've certainly done it with beer-goggles on enough. Quality, dangerous liquor. Quality beer. Quality cigars. Wonderful staff. This place has it all. They actually have 2 bars as well. One specializes in cigars, the other in beers. Both are in the same building as the liquor store on different floors. I've only walked into the cigar bar (never stayed), but it seemed like something out of Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. In other words, this guy would match the decor:



It's awesome. Strangely enough (if you know me), I haven't checked out the beer bar yet. On most nights I never make it past the cheap street beers on the 1st floor. I imagine the beer bar is equally well-done and medium-rare. Therefore, this post is part-explanation and part-invitation to check it out sometime. Come out of Sakae exit 8 and walk south towards Osu Kannon on Otsu-dori (towards all them big department stores, etc.). When you get to Gucci, take a right. It'll be on your left about a block and a half down. It's right past a Daily Yamazaki and across from a big 出会いcafe/whorehouse.


2. Yamaya

Grandmaster Wizard Canadian-先輩 Geoff Coleman enlightened me about this place recently. It's an import store near the Chunichi building in Sakae. Long rows of wine and booze. Oh, and big bottles of Heartland and gummy-pigs too. To get here, I have no specific directions. It's the building directly across the street to the north from Chunichi building in Sakae (on Hirokoji-dori on the other side of Central Park from the Ferris wheel). It's on the B2 level and can be accessed from Sakae station without ever going above ground, but I can't explain that in detail, so just go down to that level of that building and start saying 'Yamaya'.
[ DH interjects: Toyohashi has several Yamaya’s as well, and it happens to be one of my favorite places to shop. A ton of great drinks and food, especially a great Mexican collection! Yamaya has Sam Adam’s, JW Dundee’s, a vast selection of Belgian’s, and the cheapest bourbon around. Worth checking out for sure!!]


3. Belgian Beer

Anyone actually know the name of this place? Me neither. It's a small mom-and-pop store in north Sakae (figure out where I drink yet?) that happens to offer a wide range of high-alcohol Belgian beers. I have a one track mind, so I've never really looked at their other stock, but I want to say they have lots of champagne. Access by walking north along the left (west) side of Central Park from Sakae station. One (two?) blocks before the road with a highway running overhead, turn left. There's a small parking lot on the corner. Turn there. One more thing to mention about this place. They seem to have a clientele of weekday alcoholics who start early. The only time I've ever caught them open was after kencho meetings. I'm pretty sure they're closed weekends and close early on weekdays. Maybe they only open once a month for us... such a sweet old lady...


4. 成域 Seiiki ?

Just look for those kanji. This place is (gasp!) not in Sakae. This is between the Meitetsu Nagoya building and the main Nagoya station building. This is an import food store as well, but it offers a delicious selection of liver poison. My new favorite offering at this place is a beer called 青鬼 Ao-oni. It's an IPA made by the same brewers that make Yona-Yona and Tokyo Black, but I've never seen it anywhere but here. If you know another place to get it, please let me know. From the gold clocks, start following signs down that long hallway with the coin lockers to the Meitetsu line and eventually you'll find yourself walking outside between the buildings. On your right, between the buildings, you'll find the shop. Alternatively, you could exit the station by the clocks, veer right around the hershey kiss/Madonna nipple thing towards the intersection by the koban, take a right at that street, take your first right, and it'll be just past the Meitetsu building on your left. I also buy huge jugs of Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil here.


5. Kanayama International Store

I have absolutely no idea what the name of this store is. However, they sell Anchor Brewing Company beer, so I know the location very well. It's in the Asunal shopping plaza on the north side of the station. Head out the North Exit, turn left, and you'll walk into the plaza. Here, you'll see a stage on your right. The store will be on your left in front of the stage.
[www.asunal.jp/08accsess.html]




So there you go. Ignore the copious commas and kakko. Five places to buy cheap beer in town, five nights in the workweek. Coincidence? I think not.

We thank you Nick for enlightening us on some great places in Nagoya (Sakae)! Cheers!

Good Beer Country Boys are First in the History of Beer!

For the first time, in the history of beer, a Kentucky Common has been brewed in Japan! This amazing feat of international acclaim happened last week between the 15 and 17 of October. Yes, many people of all nationalities have brewed beer of many different styles in the land of the rising sun, but Good Beer Country Boys believe that they are the first ever to successfully and faithfully (to historic documents of beer style) start the fermentation of a Kentucky Common sour-mash beer.

What is a Kentucky Common you ask? It is one of only two beer styles native to the great states of America. The other being the California Common, or Steam beer (Anchor Steam and Flying Dog Old Scratch being two delicious examples of). Unlike its San Fran, California counterpart, Kentucky Common is not commercially available. In fact, the only place I have tasted it was at the New Albaninan Brewing Company in New Albany, IN. They serve it as a summer seasonal. The Kentucky Common, or Common ale, as it was called a hundred years ago, was the working man`s beer because it was brewed locally in the Kentucky river towns and was cheaper than the imports. According to somewhere on the internet, 80% of the brew in Louisville circa 1913 was Kentucky Common. Being from Kentucky, Common beer used a corn sour mash (like bourbon) with rye wheat and barley. Good Beer Country Boys are joining the fight to bring this near extinct part of our heritage back to life!

To make a good beer, you have to first start with a name that beer must live up to. In honor of DH`s Georgetown apartment, this beer pre-brew was christened Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common (from here on shortened HBKC). The first step was to make a partial mash of pale malt, flaked corn, and flaked rye and sour it. Using a knife, I cut open the sack of pale malt and my right index finger almost to the bone. There was a 45 min lull in the pre-mash at this point where I bled profusely, went into semi-shock, broke out in cold sweat, ate some chocolate, and bandaged the wound. Miyuki (a Good Beer Japanese Girl) assisted with the bandaging and cooking of the mash as I was one good finger down. After the mash cooled, we added some active lacto bacillus (yogurt culture) and sealed it up for two days to sour.

Fast forward two days. DH takes his sweet time on slow trains from Toei and we start brewing the beer at 8 pm on a friday night. Everything is going as planned, the sour mash is drained, the black patent and crystal malts are added to the brew pot. The pale malt extract and nugget and cascade hops are thrown in. The boiling is over and the soon to be HBKC is sitting in cold water cooling down. We have an hour and a half to kill. GBJG Miyuki suggests we go to Karaoke. Let me pause right here to review Japanese Karaoke.

You go to a private room with your friends where they have a constantly updated library of songs, 3 times as many English songs as American karaoke ever thought about having. You order all you can drink beer, you shake tambourines, you shake maraccas, you sing Meatloaf`s I Would Do Anything for Love... You realize perfection.

Anyways, we go to Karaoke but not before swinging by 7-11 and picking up some Suntory Malts (best of the Big Boys as DH previously mentioned), some cokes, and 2 pints of Johnnie Walker Red (you can`t beat 299 yen a bottle). This was a bad choice. When we left Karaoke 2 hours later, the three of us were wasted. I, personally, had shattered a Coca Cola glass with the microphone (on accident, in the heat of the moment singing Andrew WK). We made it back to my apartment, dumped the beer in the fermentor, added cooled water, pitched the yeast (dry! too drunk to rehydrate), and passed out. The next morning I pulled a small piece of glass out of my arm. DH complained about that damn cat that pooped in his mouth again.

Regardless of all the historic significance of the Kentucky Common and the Good Beer Country Boys adding a chapter to Beer History by brewing it in Japan, I have got my fingers crossed that the finished product is drinkable. To make an omelet you gotta crack a few eggs. Speaking of eggs, not to put them all in one basket, we`re planning a fail proof pale ale brew as a back up plan to the HBKC. Gotta have something good to drink. Until the day that Good Beer Country Boys bottle the first ever Kentucky Common beer in Japan or other things worth talking about happen, this is Nate with a beer in his hand wishing there was one in the other.

P.S. Brewing anything over 1% alcohol in Japan is technically illegal. Don't try this at home. Ha.

Bar Review #1: Torihiro--Tahara, Aichi

I know the feeling. You are in a town in Japan that you don’t really know, and you are looking for some grub and a cold one. What drama? You, the well-seasoned Japan traveler, know that finding a good restaurant in a random town is not as easy at it is back home. You just can’t walk in to any local bar and expect to get good food, great service, and a warm welcome. Add to that a menu that you might not be able to read, local dialects and a creepy guy staring at you, and you just might not be in for a great night out on the town.
Believe me, I have had my share of “record scratch” moments here in Japan. These are those glorious times when you stroll into a small bar or restaurant and hear the infamous “record scratch.” Others may call it the crickets, the squeaky door, or just the awkward silence and a general unspoken, “What the hell is that?" thought by all of the natives in the room.
Nate and I hope we can save you from moments such as these. That’s why were going to tell you about some of the great places we have found to enjoy the local fare, and some of our old favorites that never disappoint. We've also asked some of our friends around this great land to tell us about their favorite joints as well. When we’re all said and done, we hope that wherever you find yourself, you can look on here and find a place not too far away that will welcome you with open arms/taps. I’ll start the sharing!
If you find yourself in Tahara, Aichi on the Atsumi Hanto, you’ve found yourself in a great place. The beaches aren’t too far away, hiking trails are abundant, and good food is plentiful. (Also, depending on what day of the week it is, Nate will probably be somewhere not too far away…just follow the smell of brewing beer to his place!)
If you are near the station (Mikawa Tahara 三河田原), then you are only five minutes from some great atmosphere, good beer, and grilled chicken. Walking straight away from the station, you will see Torihiro (とりひろ) on your left. Don't worry, you will smell it long before you see it. Torihiro is a type of Japanese Izakaya (bar) that is a yakitori-ya. This literally just means it is a grilled chicken shop, and you can usually get ANY part of the chicken grilled, on a skewer. Hearts, skin, tail, cartilage, liver, gizzard—all are fair game. Some even serve many of these parts raw.
Torihiro has great chicken, but the main draw is the beer on tap. At this wonderful place, Suntory’s The Malts can be found on tap, served in a true nama-dai. (big draft beer) Torihiro has the biggest beers in Tahara, as their nama-dai’s are served in true 1000mL mugs and not the smaller 800mL versions that many places use.
This is a great place to have a relaxing evening, or enjoy a rowdy party with friends. If you know you will have a large party, make sure to inform them in advance, as they do have an upper room that they can open up for you. Don't plan on arriving late into the night on Friday and Saturday though…it will be packed!
If you go to Torihiro, belly up to the bar by sitting on one of the real log stools and enjoy a few rounds and yaki-onigiri (excellent) for us. You won’t be disappointed!!!!

Now that's more like it!!!!

Ah…I can smell The Premium Malts from here. Ever since I cracked the first one of these a few years ago, I was hooked. Pay no mind to its world-wide acclaim. If you are holding a bottle or can of The Premium Malts, you are holding the Grand Gold Medal winner at the Monde Selection world quality festival. Oh wait, I almost forgot! You are holding the Gold Medal winner for the past three years running. That’s an accomplishment that Asahi, Kirin, and even the “King” back in the US can’t hold a candle to!
But like I said, never mind about that! I’ve tasted some “award winning” beers that tasted like they had been brewed with a bronze medal, much less deserved one. Keep in mind, Miller Lite has a huge marketing campaign in the US which states that it is a four time Gold Medal winner. (Miller Lite won in the category: Best American-style Light Lager…which is the same as me winning a Gold in the category: Best Slightly-Balding Chubby Kentuckian in Aichi. There ain’t too many of us out there, and of the few of us that exist, why do we deserve a medal???) ( For the record, The Premium Malts won in the category: Group I: low fermentation beers.)
And like I said, never mind that! You are holding a great tasting beer. Suntory’s The Premium Malts has (surprise surprise!!!) flavor!!! It may sound simple, but it is a statement that can't be said about the other major brewers in Japan. Of the other big three, none of them mass produce a beer that can compete with The Premium Malts. It is refreshing, has a great body, great taste, and is available almost anywhere in Japan. The downside? It is pricey!!!! At about 323 yen a 500mL can, The Premium Malts costs about 60 yen (about 60 cents in today’s crappy market!) more per can than other “premium” beers like Super Dry and Kirin Lager and Kirin Classic. Yikes!
According to Suntory, The Premium Malts uses 20% more malt and twice as many aroma hops (Chech Saaz aroma hops) as its other beers. That must be where all the taste (and price increase, thanks taxes!!!!!!) comes from!

Last year, Suntory offered The Premium Malts, Black—a very tasty dark version of the beer. If you were lucky enough to snag one of these babies, you were in for a real treat…but alas…the Black Malts is no more. Damn you Limited Edition!!! Suntory used aromatic black barley malt to give the beer its dark flavor and color, and in my opinion, it was spot on!
If you’ve got the money, try one of The Premium Malts today. There is a less expensive version, The Malts, but go ahead and spend the extra 60 yen and try something Premium for once. You deserve it don’t you?
If you are lucky, you can find a few bars that have The Premium Malts on tap. If you are in Tahara, try Torihiro near Mikawa-Tahara station. They have The Malts on tap, and it goes well with some grilled chicken hearts and yaki-onigiri. You’ll thank us later.

Here’s a toast…To The Premium Malts!!!

Happoshu...the stuff headaches are made of...

This will be the generic Happoshu post, because we don’t feel like wasting your time with the 10,000 different kinds of the stuff that is out here. It seems like the big four are releasing a new kind of happoshu every week, and besides the clever marketing that each “beer” receives…it all tastes the same!!!
If you are the kind of person that wants to drink, as some of my friends put it back home…”anything cold”, then I am sure the Happoshu will work for you. It is cheap, and true to form it tastes like cheap beer. Not much taste, not much bite, and not much of anything at all.
In general, Happoshu refers to any low-malt beer where less that 67% of the mash used when brewing is made of malt. In Japan, beer is taxed due to how much malt it contains, so of course Happoshu is cheaper than 100% malt beers. This is the main attractant for Japanese and foreigners alike…everyone loves cheap beer!! The tax bracket is structured so that the tax increases as the malt content increases, so the money making beer professors at the big four found out very quickly that it is more profitable for them to make “beer” with less malt.

Good for their wallet and yours, bad for Mr. Tastebuds.

Most Happoshu you will find in your local convenience store or market actually contain less than 25% malt. The rest is made up of old soba noodles, shrimp tails and “sauce.” There are many “beers” in your local Circle-K or 7-11 that actually contain NO MALT at all. These beverages use other mash ingredients like corn, soy peptide and pea protein. YUMMY! Drink up! Still, others like Super Blue and Clear Asahi simply just mix some kind of wheat or barley spirit with liquid and are flavored to taste like beer. They are cheap. And like your mother always told you, what you pay for is what you get.

Nate always says that Happoshu is ok if it is very cold and you are very thirsty. If you are looking for a good “end of the week” relaxing brew, don’t drink one of these—unless you are on a strict budget. Happoshu is great for those that want to pound 15 in one night, but for those of us looking for taste…we are forced to pay the price.
You won’t find Happoshu at your local bar or restaurant, they always serve one of the big four’s flagship beers. However if you find yourself out wandering the town, and only have a few hundred yen in your pocket…be my guest…but don’t say we didn’t warn you!!!

The best Happoshu you can buy is Enjuku-Kuro. Is the “black” version of their Enjuku beer. Good taste at a low price. It’s no show stopper mind you, but she’ll do in a pinch for sure.

Some of you will love the Happoshu. My friend Tawanda would swear by the “Red Asahi.” For you that are Happoshu-lovers….just imagine Nate is chugging this one for Tawanda….and you….

Asahi Super Dry!!!

The Asahi Super Dry....The mythical beer that enkai's and the inside of Japanese fridges are made of. Even if you are new to Japan, the chances that you have drank some of the Super Dry are very, very high. At first many foreigners are surprised to see the Japanese drinking beer at all times, for all occasions. I was once offered a beer by one of my good middle-aged lady friends at 7:30 in the morning when we were embarking on a trip. As we say in Scott County, KY--"You can't drink all day unless you start in the morning!!"
Beer was introduced to Japan during the Meiji period by...you guessed it...The Germans. Chances are, if you are drinking a good beer anywhere in the world, the Germans had thir hands in making it somewhere along the way. Well, not literally I hope, but you get the picture. It took a while to catch on, but now beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in Japan, blowing Sake, Sho-chu, and others right off the island.
There are four "major" producers of beer in Japan: Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory. As Nate will tell you I am sure, they all fight to produce some of the worst beer ever created. Most Japanese do not have a taste for strong tasting beers, so once the Dry Wars were started in 1987...the Big Four have tried to cater to this lighter taste.
We could (and will!) write so much more about this, and so, I will leave it for later additions. Nate will enlighten us all on the reason for Japanese 100% malt beer, the Dry Wars, happoushu, and many more in-depth things about beer that Bud drinkers have no clue about. That being said....On to the Super DRY!!!!!

Asahi Super Dry is the flagship beer of Asahi Breweries, Ltd. Since it was introduced in 1987, it has remained a favorite of many Japanese, and quite honestly a symbol of all things Japan. You may be asking yourself, "What the hell is a dry beer anyways? How can something be dry that is already wet?" Nate will go into further detail on this, but to put it simply; Dry beers are lagers that have been fully attenuated and no remaining sugars are left in the wort. Translation: They sit a long time in a big tank where the yeast eats all there is to eat in the liquid (sugars) and craps out all of the alcohol. Wasn't that easy?

Asahi is a good beer for enkais and relaxing with friends, but don't expect it to knock your socks off if you are a flavorful beer lover. The Super Dry lives up to its name, leaving a dry finish with a light taste. It goes great with food as it is not overly filling, and its lighter taste won't overpower your food. This is very important in Japan, where the food can be somewhat "delicate."

To the casual beer drinker, or American light beer drinker, Asahi Super Dry will taste ok...but something will be a tad bit strange. Most likely it will be due to the rice and rice hulls that is used in the brewing process. Many American brews use rice, including Budweiser and High Life, but in the Super Dry the taste and smell is much stronger.

To the beer fanatics, the Super Dry will leave you wanting oh so much more. It has a slight (I mean SLIGHT) hoppy taste, and hints of sake come out when poured correctly. The correct Japanese pour is about 80% beer and 20% head, much to the astonishment of American beer drinkers. The finish is dry, but quickly fleeting, and you will find yourself taking sip after sip to try and remember what it tastes like. A little malty taste...but on the whole, not a lot going on. On the positive side, it doesn't leave any bad impressions...and that is the kicker--It doesn't leave much of an impression at all!

If you find yourself enjoying the Super Dry, you are in luck! It can be found in all corners of Japan from the urban jungle to the villiages in the mountains. Surprisingly enough, the price of Asahi will be around the same no matter where you buy it, outside of eating and drinking establishments that is. Many bars and eateries have the Super Dry on draught, which is way it is best enjoyed.

Raise your glass and toast your friends and co-workers with some of Japan's most famous brew!

KOMPAI!

We were soldiers once, and we were young....

I remember when Nate and I first arrived in Japan, we were wide-eyed Americans who thought we knew it all. Little did we know, this crazy place loves to take confident Americans and send them flying back across the pond crying to their mothers!! We fought through the hard times, made some great friends, and have had some amazing adventures. Both of us avid home brewers and self-proclaimed beer connoisseurs, we want to share the knowledge that we have amassed the past years and share it with you!
Between us we have over six years of home brewing experience, many great batches, and many terrible batches of beer. We both arrived in Japan on September 11, 2006 and Nate has stayed the course ever since. I took a "year sabbatical" in 2007-2008, and returned on August 22nd to rejoin Nate in our world adventures.
Upon arriving in Japan, I was astonished to find that Japanese beer was...as one of my good friends likes to say...delicate in its taste. In the small town where I lived there were very few places to find good beer, and those beers were few and far between.
Now I find myself living in secluded Toei, Aichi...a beautiful place...with no good beer. I am sure many of you find yourself in the same situation as me. Beer lovers with no good beer in sight!!!! Relax, we are here to help.
We will be reviewing many micro brews here in Japan, as well as some of the seasonal brews that the "big four" produce periodically. We hope you can find something here useful!

Until then, enjoy your "Super Dry" or "Premium Malts" with a smile......