Let's Take Bets.

It's a known fact that Japanese people have brought the world some great inventions. They've also given us things like Happoshu and Third-Category beer (Happosei). It should come as no surprise then that the Japanese also helped give the world High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and instant coffee.

HFCS and instant coffee are here to stay it seems. They are cheap alternatives of the real thing that come close to tasting like the thing they imitate...but are not by any means exact. Questions remain about what hazards products like HFCS will have on us in the future, but that doesn't stop manufacturers from using them in order to keep production costs low.

The question is: When will other brewers in the world start making their own Third-Category Brews? Will we see AB-InBev come out with a "Diet-Bud" that boasts 70% less calories and still has all of the taste and comes in at 5% alcohol? Doesn't it stand to reason that other macro brewers could tap into this market and create super cheap booze?? With InBev's profits declining drastically, it seems to reason that a cheap beer marketed at the lower classes could sell well...

Or, are people going to keep buying good beer? It seems that craft beer in America may be weathering the economic times fairly well. Would a 3rd-type beer simply not sell in America? Some think that Americans wouldn't stand for a cheap imitation of an already cheap product. In other countries where beer is not taxed in the same fashion as Japan, does 3rd-type beer have less appeal?

Let's take bets.