Nomihodai
By Rocky | December 2, 2007
The Japanese really love a beer and there is no better place to have one, or many than at a venue that has Nomihodai. Nomihodai, you may ask? Well its an ‘all you can drink deal’. A lot of bars do Nomihodai and so do many restaurants, basically you have a set fee and in many cases a set time and set types of drinks you can order, and away you go, some bars will even add food to the deal if you are lucky. A lot of venues have a karaoke bar which offsets the cheap price of the Nomihodai, some publicans think enough beer the patron will be more than happy to pay good money for a sing along to their favorite Brittney Spears or Jason Timberlake track. In a lot of cases bars which offer the Nomihodai seem to be in districts where quiet a few do it, so you can usually do a bit of browsing for the best deal, you can sometimes pick up a real bargain like 2 or 3 hours for 2000 yen which is about 20 dollars, many places also do a cheaper deal during non peak times.
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Sapporo Black Label
By Rocky | November 17, 2007
Sapporo Black Label celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and is the premium product of the Sapporo range. Recently to higlight the Nama, or real taste in Japanese the beer has been marketed more towards restaurants and bars in bottled form. It’s a tasty drop and this You Tube advertisement is a bit of fun, its a cross between a Japanese BBQ and a game of soccer and some sort of martial arts- you have got to see it to believe it.
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Happoshu- the beer you have when you’re not having a beer
By Rocky | September 30, 2007
Well the Japanese are well know for being innovative, and when it comes to beer they have pulled quiet a clever stunt. The Japanese breweries come up with a plan to avoid having to pass on the huge alcohol tax to their customers by producing a beer which isn’t beer. Here’s how, Japan taxes its beer drinkers on the amount of malt in a beer, if the drink contains 67% there is a huge tax, if its less than 25% there is a small tax, so that’s what the breweries did, produce a beer like product with little malt. What resulted is a beverage that tastes just like beer and a lot cheaper, many are low carb and marketed as healthier alternatives to real beer. For the serious beer drinker the flavor is not as full and usually a bit sweeter than the real thing, but they contain the usual 4- 5% alcohol content and are cheap. There have been dozens of new brands enter the market over the last few years and they have made big inroads into Japan’s ‘beer’ market.
For more information visit or sister site www.happyjappy.com
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Kirin Ichiban from Japan
By Rocky | September 5, 2007
Kirin is one of the largest beer names in Japan and their premium product Kirin Ichiban is available in most countries around the world, being brewed under license in several centres outside Japan. This beer has a 4.9% alcohol content and a is quiet frothy with a very smooth but light sweet and fruity flavour. The Kirin Company claim they use a luxurious single wort or first press to obtain the complex light golden beer. The Kirin Ichiban goes great with any type of food, especially seafood and light oriental flavours, this beer is really at its best when it is served chilled a little colder than the average beer.
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Sapporo one of Japan’s finest
By Rocky | August 20, 2007
Japan’s Sapporo brand makes quiet a few products for the Japanese market including Draft One, Slims, the Yebisu suite of beers and also imports beverages such as Guinness and Smirnoff vodka. The Sapporo we know and love outside Japan is only one of a few Sapporo branded beers. The finest is their brand new Black Label beer to celebrate their 29th anniversary. With the latest technologies they claim a distribution revolution with constant temperature deliveries and the freshest quality ingredients. The company even claims that the new labels are a commitment to using safe ingredients and make pleasurable products– what ever that means.
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Vending machine beer sales
By Rocky | August 11, 2007
Just imagine if you put vending machines on the local streets filled with beer and cigarettes. The kids would go crazy spending all their pocket money and the local drunks would never have any small change. Well in Japan is you can do it. There are vending machines for just about everything; you can buy anything imaginable with a few coins and a couple of presses of the button even beer. For about hundred or so Yen you can have a refreshing cold Ashai or Sapporo from a machine in the street. There’s no one looking over you to see if you are 10 years old or intoxicated you just put the coins in and presto out comes the liquor. If you want spirits there are even machines for them. The young people don’t seem to be interested in the machines and they pose little temptation, there would be very few places in the world where this would work or would be permitted. – once again we will say it…’Only in Japan’.
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Asahi - beer robot
By Rocky | August 5, 2007
The Japanese sure do love their robots, and what better use can you think of than get one to pour your icy cold Asahi Beer. This would have to be one of the more useful robots ever invented. Imagine having this little bloke around the house, not only does he pour your beer but he has a fridge in his robot tummy (a bit like Bender of Futurama) where he keeps the beer fresh and cold. Although it might take twice as long to open and pour a beer you will never get over the novelty value. Good to see technology being put to good use.
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