Wine, Beer, Sake, Whiskey Blog at MoIppai » Happoshu

CanBot! It’s a Robot…Disguised as a Beer Can!

MoIppai — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:07:26 +0000

This Japanese guy decided to make a robot out of a Kirin Tanrei Happoshu can!
(Guess it’s better than drinking the stuff!)

Pretty cool, (in a very geeky otaku way). He’s even hooked it up so it can be controlled
by a Wii controller!

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Whiskey Cool

Japanese Brewers Give Up on Happoshu

MoIppai — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:32:43 +0000

A Sapporo Happoshu

Ok, this news is a little bit old, as the Daily Yomiuri reported it back in January, but I’ve been busy and not
had time to put this post up.

Basically it seems that some of the major Japanese brewers, Suntory and Sapporo to be precise, are essentially stopping their production of Happoshu (low-malt beers).
They will continue to make seasonal and regional happoshus apparently, but in-principle at least, they are stopping production.

Asahi is also reducing it’s production by 20%, but Kirin (who make the very popular Tanrei happoshu) have no plans to reduce their happoshu range.

The reason behind this is it seems happoshu become popular as a cheap alternative to regular beer (as they are taxed less due to quirks in the Japanese alcohol tax system that sets a tax rate based on the amount of malt in the drink).

The problem is, the tax has increased twice in recent years making it not really noticeably cheaper than regular beer, and also the introduction of Daisan (or third-category beer) which uses even less malt, and therefore is even cheaper has reduced the desire amongst consumers for Happoshu.

Although a news report I blogged about back in December, talked about the Japanese government considering raising the tax on Daisans aswell.

So who knows, maybe in the not too distant future we’ll just be left with regular beer here in Japan.

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Top 5 Japanese Happoshus

MoIppai — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:48:47 +0000

Ok, this is my top 5 Japanese happoshus. Happoshu in Japan is a low-malt beer, kind of like a fake beer to get round the Japanese tax laws that increase as the amount of malt in a “beer” increase.
To find out more about this quirk in Japanese alcohol taxes have a look at my previous posts : What is Happoshu? and Daisan to Face a Tax Hike?.

As you’ll see I’m not actually a big fan of Happoshu’s. The phrase “not bad” and “nothing special” crop up a lot in the reviews. Still, they’re cheap, so good for people on a budget I guess.

Out of the many Happoshus I’ve tried, here is my Top 5:
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Read the rest of Top 5 Japanese Happoshus (255 words)

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Post tags: Happoshu

Asahi Breweries Back On Top

MoIppai — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:45:48 +0000

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.
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Read the rest of Asahi Breweries Back On Top (122 words)

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Post tags: Asahi, Daisan, Happoshu, Happousei, Japanese beer, Japanese lager, Kirin, Orion, Sapporo, Suntory

Barreal – ￥88 Fake Beer from Aeon

MoIppai — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:38:42 +0000

Aeon Supermarket, Japan

With the on-coming onslaught of the unbearably humid Japanese summer Beer manufacturers in Japan are finding ways to maximise their sales, and big supermarket chain Aeon recently launched a ￥88 ($1) daisan (beer-like drink) onto the market.

Tax on alcohol is (compared to say the UK) very cheap, with whiskeys and other spirits in off-licenses being usually around half the price of English prices, but due to the strange Japanese beer tax system where the tax relates to the amont of malt in the beer, canned beer itself can be quite expensive.

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Read the rest of Barreal – ￥88 Fake Beer from Aeon (162 words)

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Post tags: Asahi, Daisan, Happoshu, Happousei, Japanese beer, Japanese lager, Kirin, Suntory, Third Category Beer, Third Kind Beer