Wine, Beer, Sake, Whiskey Blog at MoIppai » Third Category Beer

Top 5 Japanese Daisans (Third-category beer)

MoIppai — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:52:53 +0000

After ranking my Top 5 Japanese beers and Top 5 Japanese Happoshus here are my Top 5 Japanese Daisans.
Daisans are very low malt content alcoholic drinks (sometimes called “Third-Category Beers” or “Liqueurs“).

Japanese tax on alcohol varies depending on the malt content for some reason, and this type of drink has become very popular in the past few years as it has a very low malt content (they have to have less than 50%) they are much cheaper than regular beers and even Happoshus.

More information about this tax system can be found in my previous posts :
What is Happoshu? and Daisan to Face a Tax Hike?.

When I first tried Daisans in Japan, 4-5 years ago, I was shocked at how bad they tasted. But recently there has been some passable “beer-like drinks” coming out (or perhaps my tastes have changed along with my budget)?
Many daisans are more drinkable than happoshus in fact (which should technically be nearer to beers in content than daisans).
I mean, some Daisans are made out of corn and peas instead of barley and malt!

Out of all the Daisans I’ve tried this far, here are my Top 5:
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Read the rest of Top 5 Japanese Daisans (Third-category beer) (298 words)

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Post tags: Daisan, Third Category Beer, Third Kind Beer

McDonalds and Asahi Join Forces in Asahi Clear Campaign

MoIppai — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 04:32:29 +0000

McDonalds in Japan and Asahi Breweries Ltd have joined forces in a what some might consider a dream promotional campaign.
Although those that have tried the Asahi Clear daisan (beer-like drink) from Asahi might have a different opinion.

Asahi Clear, a Lady and a Big Mac

6-packs and crates of 24 Clear Asahi come with a scratch card (or a Pick-Up Card as they’re calling it. Pick-Up means To Choose in Japanese English), which if you win you can claim
One Free Big Mac!

I’m not sure if that’s enough of an incentive for me to switch to Asahi Clear (I only scored it
78 in my review), much as I do like a Big Mac every now and then.

You can’t actually buy beer in McDonalds in Japan, but Kentucky Fried Chicken do sell
Kirin Free the non-alcohol lager from Kirin but to be honest that’s worse than the Asahi Clear.

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Summer in Japan – Hanabi and Suntory

MoIppai — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:11:13 +0000

Unlike in, say England, where we do fireworks when it’s cold and miserable in November, in Japan the fireworks season is the height of summer. In fact our city’s fireworks display and matsuri (festival) is tonight.

To celebrate the fireworks (hanabi 花火 in Japanese) season, Suntory have released a new design for their Kinmugi (Rich Malt) daisan can.

Rich Malt Hanabi Special

Nice.

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Asahi Breweries Back On Top

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

Two New Daisans From Orion Brewery

MoIppai — Sun, 30 May 2010 03:12:54 +0000

Orion Rich from Japan

I came home from work the other day and found two new daisan’s (Japanese third-category beers) from Orion Brewery in Okinawa in the fridge.
Actually my wife found them in the supermarket that day, Orion Brewery didn’t send me them unfortunately, which would have been nice.

Orion beers in mainland Japan are distributed by Asahi so more than likely they’re actually made in the Asahi brewery as opposed to the Okinawan one and imported here.

Going by some of Asahi’s other Daisans I wasn’t expecting too much, but there was a glimmer of hope as the Orion Beer is pretty good.

The two daisans are the Orion Rich and the Orion Southern Star and were fairly disappointing, although the Orion Rich is possibly worth trying, especially if you haven’t tried
a daisan before as it’s one of the better ones.
They’re both very cheap too at ￥128 ($1.40).
Click the links above for more detailed reviews.