Asahi Breweries Back On Top

Asahi Beer Mug

The Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported yesterday that Asahi Breweries Ltd. has taken back the top spot in the beer market in Japan after two years in second place to Kirin.

Asahi was top in the first half of 2010 with 37.1% of sales followed by Kirin with 36.4%, Suntory 13.4%, Sapporo 12.3% and bravely bringing up the rear, Orion Breweries from Okinawa with 0.9%.

Overall sales of beer and “beer-like” drinks (happoshu, daisan) in Japan have slowed down so far this year, apparently because young people are moving away from alcoholic drinks and it’s been cold this year.

However the summer is definitely kicking in now, so I’m sure sales will pick up.

In related news, the Asahi Shinbun (another newspaper in Japan) revealed that for everyday drinking, Japanese like to drink Kirin’s Nodogoshinama (のどごし生） and Clear Asahi,
two cheap beer-like drinks (called a daisan), but for special occasions they splash out on Suntory’s The Premium Malts and Sapporo’s Premium Yebisu.

Honkaku Karakuchi Mugi

Kirin have also announced that from the 21st July this year they’re going to try and compete with Asahi’s Super Dry by releasing the
Honkaku Karakuchi Mugi (本格辛口麦） – karakuchi mugi basically means dry tasting wheat.
This is a daisan though (not a real beer), and weighs in at 5% alcohol.
The Japanese homepage for it can be found here and my review of it can be found here.