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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Recession Hits Japanese Newspapers – No Free “Real” Beer This Year

MoIppai — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:20:12 +0000

Update Notice : Looks like I spoke too soon with this post…check the update at the end for what arrived the following day.

Last year when my wife re-subscribed to the Asahi Shinbun, we received a free case of Asahi Super Dry. When she re-subscribed for this year, she requested to receive Kirin (there was a choice), hoping to receive some Kirin Ichiban Shibori or maybe the Kirin Classic.

Well it looks like the recession has definitely hit at the Asahi Shinbun when this arrived this morning…

Free Kirin Tanrei

A gift box of 12 Kirin Tanrei. One of Kirin’s Happoshu range. (Happoshu is a low-malt, less than 25%, cheaper, beer alternative.)

Ok, so it was free, and you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and to be fair it’s one of the better happoshus on the market, but to be honest, I was a little disappointed.

I’m sure it’ll get drunk though…

Updated 19th Jan 2011 :
Looks like the recession hasn’t hit the Asahi Shinbun as hard as I previously thought.
This was waiting for me when I came home from work tonight…

Asahi Gift Set

An 8 Can Gift Set of Asahi Super Dry. Nice.
Ok, so maybe some people might argue that Asahi Super Dry doesn’t constitute “real” beer either, but I wouldn’t be that harsh…

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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:
(...)
Read the rest of Top 5 Japanese Happoshus (255 words)

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Post tags: Happoshu

Daisan to Face a Tax Hike?

MoIppai — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:08:14 +0000

Suntory Kinmugi (Daisan)

A recent report in the The Mainichi Daily News says that the Japanese government are considering upping the tax on Third-Category Beers (called Daisan) in order to bring their prices more in line with conventional beers and happoshus.

In Japan the tax on “Malted” alcoholic drinks like beers depends on the percentage of malt in the drink.

Regular beers containing at least 50% malt are taxed at about ¥77 for a 350ml can.
Happoshu containing 25% to 49% are taxed at ¥62,
and drinks with less than 25% malt are taxed at ¥47.

Third-category beer (daisan) is classed as a “liqueur”, and as long as the malt percentage is less than 50%, it’s taxed only ¥28.

This has led to Daisan becoming increasingly popular as it can be a much as half the price of an ordinary beer like Asahi, or Kirin, and there has apparently been an influx of these drinks from places like South Korea, for example the Neu Welt Bergen Brau.
(...)
Read the rest of Daisan to Face a Tax Hike? (221 words)

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Post tags: Daisan