Beer in Japan

Although Japan might be famous for sake, wine distilled from rice, the beverage most people order when it’s time to throw a few back after work is beer. Beer has been brewed in Japan since 1870, when Norwegian-born William Copeland came to Yokohama to seek his fortune and founded what would become the first beer brewery in the country. (It’s popular to visit his grave in Yokohama and leave cans of Kirin beer as an offering, to thank him for his hard work.) Today the market is dominated by the “big four” breweries of Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo and Suntory, and in accordance with standard Japanese business practices, these companies also have strong businesses selling everything from processed foods to bottled tea. (Can you imagine buying iced tea bottled by Coors?) Now Kirin has announced it will be making big changes to its flagship Ichiban Shibori by altering the ingredients and moving to a 100% hop brewing process, rather than the current formula that contains rice. Will consumers respond to the “premium” Kirin beer, or will this be a “New Coke” moment for the company? As soon as we get some in at my father-in-law’s liquor shop I’ll let you know.

Kirin will be changing the recipe for their flagship beer