Japanese Beer - Best To Taste While In Japan

Just like electronics, the Japanese beer serves to be an innovation. Beer was brought to Japan by the Dutch when they built beer halls. Later, Germans brought beer and marked its popularity. In fact, beer is the most famous alcoholic drink served in Japan, which accounts for about two thirds of 9 billion liters consumed in the year 2006.

Japanese began to brew an adaptation of the beer after the Meiji Era. A large number of people in Japan brew beer for their own, with three popular breweries in Japan. These breweries include Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo. The product offered by all these three breweries is the lager beer.

One can find beer in vending machines and kiosk in Japan. Beer can also be bought from a number of outlets like from the convenience stores and supermarkets. But Japan has strict laws for driving motor vehicle or even riding the bicycle after consuming alcohol. The popular beer brands in Japan include Asahi Black, Asahi Super Dry, Kirin Lager Beer, Kirin Tanrei, Sapporo Yebisu, Suntory Malt’s, Orion Draft Beer, Hokkaido Nama-Shibori, Suntory Super Magnum Dry and the Orion Special to name a few.

Many Japanese breweries provide seasonal beers as well that are produced just during a single season. For example, in autumn, the ‘autumn beers’ are produced with contents of high alcohol like 6 percent. In other words, Japan is a place which is popular for its customs and beer is in fact no exception. In case you are fortunate enough to visit Japan and have a nice Japanese beer, ensure that you follow the customs as well. For instance, it is customary that while drinking with a colleague or friend, you need to pour the beet for him or her first. Also, it is required that you must socialize with your friends and family in one of the special outdoor beer gardens of Japan.

Beer actually means any kind of fermented drink that is made from the grains. Lagers and ales are the main beer families. Lagers are produced with the yeast’s bottom fermenting strains that are not reused sometimes. In this way, the yeast does not provide much flavor as they are fermented a number of weeks at cooler temperatures before they are ready to be used. On the other hand, ales are specially made using the yeast’s top fermenting strains. These have high malt content as well as hops and so they have bitter flavor. Ales are fermented usually at high temperatures and can be consumed much sooner as compared to the lagers.

One thing which is great about the Japanese beer is the fact that it is of great flavor with a light texture. In case you are one of those who enjoy taking light beer, you can easily find the Japanese beers as perfect substitutes for less flavorful beers of America. Many of the Japanese beers have also won the taste tests against the heavy hitters like Heinek or Amstel Light.

Last but not least, you will be happy to find that many beers at Japan are less costly than many brands of imported beers.

 by: James Cawley