Best beer in the world being copied in Japan =)

Starborn · 2017-09-04 17:21:06

So, it seems that the best beer in the world is being copied in Japan. Didn't know this, but it doesn't surprise me one bit that they try

Belgian beer in Japan (as reported by johnraff)

Steve · 2017-09-05 08:10:48

I will have to give that a try if they import it to my country. I dont mind a Sapporo Premium every now and then, they make a nice beer. (サッポロビール株式会社, Sapporo Bīru Kabushiki-gaisha). https://sapporobeer.com/our-beers/

Goes well with spicy beef skewers

ohnonot · 2017-09-05 18:41:37

Starborn wrote:

the best beer in the world

i have to seriously object.
the best beer in the world is a nice, bitter and fresh pilsener made in accordance to the "Reinheitsgebot" (which no belgian brewer has ever heard of)!

PS: full disclosure: i'm just pulling your leg and/or pushing your buttons

Last edited by ohnonot (2021-07-02 07:47:52)

johnraff · 2017-09-06 01:34:22

Unfortunately that "Crystal Belg" disappeared last summer almost as soon as it arrived, and Sapporo don't seem to have put out any more of those *Belg brews, except for "White Belg" which you can still get. I doubt if they ever hit the export market anyway. Those "third beer" type brews - they don't really qualify as beer, more like beer-flavoured alcopops - are a Galapagos product that fits the (silly) Japanese tax brackets, and wouldn't be profitable anywhere else. I think the tax rates here are due to be closed up in the next few years though, anyway.

The Sapporo Beer website that Steve linked shows quite a different lineup (brewed in US & Canada apparently) from what they sell here: http://www.sapporobeer.jp/product/sapporo/index.html In case you don't read Japanese, the ones marked [ビール] are real beer, [発泡酒] means low-malt, and [新ジャンル] is the hoppy-alcopop type that those *Belg and "Mugi to Hoppu" fall under.

I love Belgian beer in all it's luxuriant indulgence, but also have the highest respect for clean, crisp aristocratic German lagers.

ohnonot · 2017-09-06 04:04:26

johnraff wrote:

clean, crisp aristocratic

thanks, i was looking for something like that.
native english speakers don't say pilsener or pils?

btw and slightly contrary to what i wrote before, i really enjoy IPA beers atm. not all of them have an exaggerated alcohol content; they are just very "malty" and very "hoppy" or "hopsy". in one word, tasty.
but i always look at the ingredients, and whenever i see starch or glucose sirup or some such added, i put it back on the shelf.

Steve · 2017-09-06 09:04:57

Speaking of German Pils, i dont mind this one occasionally..Oettinger Pils. I would rather drink this beer than any of the beers created in my country Australia.

https://www.oettinger-bier.de/beer/oettinger-pils_14

I read this particular beer is on the cheaper end in Germany but brewed according to the German beer purity law, which makes it a premium beer here but still affordable.

johnraff · 2017-09-06 09:40:19

@ohnonot no I don't think pilsener or certainly not pils are widely understood in the UK - not when I was there, pre-1973, anyway. I was in Holland for a bit after that and soon learned "pils" got you what you wanted faster than "lager".

@Steve surely you do Australian beers an injustice? When I visited (~15 yrs ago?) I was expecting nothing but Fosters, but discovered Victoria Bitter, and later Coopers. Not bad at all. Then there are some brewpubs too.

Steve · 2017-09-06 10:00:33

@John, i probably am but since the VB or Carlton United brewers changed breweries the taste has changed.
Many here call Victoria Bitter "Vomit Beer"...

Coopers is ok but not that good imo and i don't get why they decided to make it a halal friendly beer, im pretty sure the faith is against intoxicants and or drinking alcohol in general.

There would be many "boutique" beers i haven't tried that are probably really nice, but the big box breweries here cant cut it what the German and Belgian breweries can do.

I like the fact that Oettinger uses non GMO ingredients along with non fluoridated water, that purity factor. In my country we have no choice in most parts but to drink fluoridated water so i have a filter set up on my sink and try and drink beverages not made with such water.

Last edited by Steve (2017-09-06 10:05:56)

ohnonot · 2017-09-06 18:56:03

Steve wrote:

I like the fact that Oettinger uses non GMO ingredients along with non fluoridated water, that purity factor. In my country we have no choice in most parts but to drink fluoridated water so i have a filter set up on my sink and try and drink beverages not made with such water.

ugh, that sounds really bad.
in germany until maybe 10-15 years ago, the "Reinheitsgebot" was an actual law - one of the oldest still around - it would've been illegal to sell beer with other/more ingredients.
so yes, even the cheapest.
while this isn't the case anymore, many companies still keep it up. i guess it just sells better, it's what people expect, the factories are already running, why change... beer is as common as bread...
all that said, even honoring the Reinheitsgebot you can produce some pretty sh!tty stuff...

Last edited by ohnonot (2017-09-06 18:58:51)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-06 19:02:28

ohnonot wrote:

native english speakers don't say pilsener or pils?

Not really no, we tend to call it "lager", I think.

Having said that it has been _many_ years since I was a regular drinker so perhaps the fashions have changed

Anyway lager != beer.

Bitter ftw!

ohnonot · 2017-09-07 06:52:08

Bitter seems tobe pretty much the same as what is so fashionably being brewed and sold as IPA these days?
like i said, they sell one with normal alcohol content (4.7%) here, and i like it a lot, and it looks (and the description reads) a lot like what's in that wikipedia article.

I'm a sucker for good beer.

Last edited by ohnonot (2021-07-02 07:47:23)

johnraff · 2017-09-07 08:40:58

Lager is used in the UK to describe any pale germanic-looking beer, as opposed to ale which is the traditional British brew. I think lager generally corresponds to bottom-fermenting beers, fermented slowly at cold temperatures, as opposed to top-fermented ales.

Bitter and IPA (India Pale Ale) are different, though close, varieties of ale. These definitions are pretty fuzzy though, as HoaS's wiki link said. IPA was brewed stronger and hoppier so as to keep better on the long sea voyage from Britain to India - several months I guess. It's amazing it kept at all. The world just 200 years ago was such a different place!

Bearded_Blunder · 2017-09-07 15:56:41

Lager = nasty stuff which has to be chilled to be palatable ale =nice stuff which tastes good regardless if it's at ambient temperature, and doesn't require you to drink it FAST like some lager-lout, just to make it bearable and consequently end up drunk and belligerent!

johnraff · 2017-09-08 01:59:59

I once read that the ideal temerature to drink a beer is that at which it was fermented.
That means, for a typical lager/pilsener, say 5~6°C and for ale, a typical UK cellar temperature, ie 15~16°C.

The Japanese summer with room temperatures in the 30's, fully justifies cooling even ales down a bit, but I wouldn't want to drink even lager-type beers at 0°C, which seems to have become a bit of a fashion. Maybe OK for some mass-produced cheapo product...

johnraff · 2017-09-08 05:55:38

Hops in IPA beers linked to man boobs

ohnonot · 2017-09-09 05:41:47

^ i didn't know it went that far, but I know of the "brewer's droop".
Historically, it's a "monk's droop" - and monks are the reason why hops in beer is so common (it helped them stay celibate).
hops is also a mild sedative. good to come down after a hard working day, or before going to sleep (try warm beer with honey!).

but esp. along the north sea they also had different ways of making beer, i'm just finding out.
something to reconcile me with the belgians! no more monk's droop, psychedelic tripping instead!

#1 2017-09-04 17:21:06

Best beer in the world being copied in Japan =)

#2 2017-09-05 08:10:48

Re: Best beer in the world being copied in Japan =)

#3 2017-09-05 18:41:37

Re: Best beer in the world being copied in Japan =)

#4 2017-09-06 01:34:22

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#5 2017-09-06 04:04:26

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#6 2017-09-06 09:04:57

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#7 2017-09-06 09:40:19

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#8 2017-09-06 10:00:33

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#9 2017-09-06 18:56:03

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#10 2017-09-06 19:02:28

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#11 2017-09-07 06:52:08

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#12 2017-09-07 08:40:58

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#13 2017-09-07 15:56:41

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#14 2017-09-08 01:59:59

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#15 2017-09-08 05:55:38

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#16 2017-09-09 05:41:47

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