Beer in Japan

Beer in Japan had its start in the 17th century during the Edo period when Dutch traders stationed at Dejima in Nagasaki opened a beer hall for sailors working the trade route between Japan and the Dutch Empire.

As Japan reopened to foreign trade during the Meiji period, imported beers such as Bass Pale Ale and Bass Stout were available in limited quantities in the foreign settlements, but trained brewers from Europe and elsewhere also arrived to contribute to the growth of the local industry.

The brewery that would become Kirin Brewery Company began in Yokohama in late 1869 as the Spring Valley Brewery, a private business established by Norwegian-American, William Copeland.[2] The Sapporo Brewery was founded in 1876 as a part of a government-directed development plan for Hokkaido. Asahi Breweries traces its founding heritage to the start of the Osaka Beer Brewing Company in 1889, and the launch of the Asahi Beer brand in 1892.[3]

Japanese convenience store selection of beer

Beer or beer-like happoshu beverages are the most popular alcoholic drink in Japan, accounting for nearly two thirds of the 9 billion liters of alcohol consumed in 2006.[4]

Japan's domestic consumption of the total 187.37 million kiloliter global beer market in 2012 was about 5.55 million kiloliters or about 3.0%.[5] This statistic for total beer consumption in Japan also includes beer-like low-malt beer and no-malt beer products.

In terms of national per capita beer consumption Japan ranked 51st in 2014, equivalent to 42.6 liters per person, reflecting the diversified alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage market enjoyed by Japanese consumers.[6] Demographic factors are expected to continue to push down sales of mass-market beer products in Japan for the foreseeable future as younger consumers are drinking less beer than previous generations.[7] For the calendar year 2013, overall shipments for Japan's five largest brewers were 433.57 million cases, (a case is equivalent to 12.66 liters of beer or 27 US pints) more than 20% off the market peak achieved in 1992.[8]

However, for locally produced craft beers accounting for less than 1% of domestic beer consumption [9] and selected premium imported beers, market opportunities continue to expand. According to local market data, in the first eight months of 2012, shipments of domestic craft beer rose 7.7 percent while sales by Japan's largest brewers continued a year on year decline.[9]

As of January 2014, Asahi, with a 38% market share, was the largest of the four major beer producers in Japan followed by Kirin with 35% and Suntory with 15%.[8]

Due to the Japanese taxation system, the varieties of brewed malt beverages in Japan are categorized into two groupings: beer and happoshu. The distinction is made based on the amount of malt used relative to grain adjuncts, with the term happoshu ascribed to low-malt brews. Japanese regulations forbid the use of the word "beer" (ビール, bīru) to describe brews containing less than 50% malt (thus allowing up to 50% adjuncts including rice, corn, sorghum, potato, starch, and sugar).[10][11]

Since 2004, Japanese breweries have produced even lower-taxed, non-malt brews made from soybeans and other ingredients which do not fit the classifications for beer or happoshu. Dubbed "third-category beers" (第三のビール, dai-san no bīru),[4] they are officially classified as "other miscellaneous alcohol" or "liqueur".

• Asahi Breweries
• Kirin Company
• Sapporo Brewery
• Suntory
• Orion Breweries

In 1994, Japan's strict tax laws were relaxed allowing smaller breweries producing 60,000 litres (15,850 gal) per year for a beer license or 6000 litres per year for a happoshu license. Before this change, breweries could not get a license without producing at least 2 million litres (528,000 gal) per year. As a result, a number of smaller breweries have been established throughout Japan.

After of relaxation of tax laws in the early 1990s, the commonly used term for microbrew in Japan was ji bīru (地ビール), or "local beer", although Japanese microbrew industry professionals are increasingly using the name "craft beer" (クラフトビア, kurafuto bia) in their labels and marketing literature.

There are currently over 200 microbreweries in Japan, although many in this number are financially tied to larger sake producers, restaurant chains, resort hotels or similar.[13] Microbreweries in Japan produce various styles of beer including ales, IPAs, stout, pilsner, weissbier, kölsch, fruit beers and others. After the relaxation of the Liquor Tax Law in 1994, there was an initial boom in microbrewing, but the quality of regional microbrews were often mixed and initial consumer enthusiasm leveled off. The popularity of low-cost happoshu (low-malt beer), compared to the high cost microbrews, forced a number of early microbreweries out of business. The dominance of the major industrial brewers and the relative high cost and low volume involved in producing micros led to their only being known to a small number of beer enthusiasts.

In the 2000s however, thanks to factors such as licensed production for some bar and restaurant chains, cooperation between micro breweries, and a more educated consumer base, craft beer has seen a more sustained rise in domestic demand. Improved product quality, word of mouth marketing facilitated by social media websites, the attention given to the rise of US-based craft brewing industry and the growth of independent craft beer retail outlets in major cities,[14] have all contributed to the recent success enjoyed by Japanese craft brewers.

Today there are a growing number of regional microbrew festivals held throughout Japan, including the Great Japan Beer Festival series held annually in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama. Every year, the Japan Craft Beer Association holds the Japan Beer Cup, while a competing organization, Japan Craft Beer Support, has launched the annual Nippon Craft Beer Festival.

A Sapporo beer vending machine in Hokkaido

Other than in serviced restaurants and bars, in Japan beer can be purchased at a wide variety of outlets, including supermarkets, convenience stores, and kiosks at train stations. Beer can also be sold in vending machines although, as of 2012, this has become much less common in major cities. Some vending machines have motion activated advertising that displays on small TV screens embedded into them. They play beer commercials and jingles that are seen on TV and heard on the radio. These vending machines began to be phased out in June 2000, mainly over the concerns of underage drinking.

The legal drinking age in Japan is 20 years old. In terms of drinking culture, beer drinking and opening formal toasts with beer, as a part of a group, sports team or after-work corporate social bonding activity, is widespread.

Beer can legally be consumed almost anywhere in public, with notable exceptions for organized events, summer festivals and spring cherry blossom parties. Social convention means that open consumption of alcohol on the street or ordinary commuter trains is rare.[15] Japan has very strict laws against operating a motor vehicle or riding a bicycle during or after the consumption of alcohol. Fines, prison time and other penalties can also apply to individuals deemed responsible for supplying alcohol to an intoxicated driver and those traveling in the same vehicle.[16]

Japanese-style commercial brewing and beer products have been successfully exported worldwide or are produced locally under license and are distributed in a number of overseas markets.

• In the US, three of the four major Japanese brands are available. These include Sapporo Draft, Kirin Ichiban (Number One, as opposed to the normal Lager which is not available), and Asahi Super Dry. Asahi is produced by Molson in Canada,[17] Kirin is produced at Anheuser-Busch facilities in Williamsburg, Virginia and Los Angeles, and Sapporo is produced at a Sapporo-owned brewery in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Suntory beer is not available. Orion Beer is also available, imported from Okinawa Prefecture. Availability of brands depends on an individual state's liquor laws, resulting in some beers being available in some places and others not. For example, in Oklahoma, Asahi Super Dry, Sapporo, and Orion are available, whereas in Texas, Kirin Ichiban is prevalent.

Kiuchi brewery was the first Japanese microbrewery to export beer from Japan. Many other Japanese microbreweries now export to North America, Europe, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Although it is technically illegal in Japan to produce beverages containing more than 1% alcohol without a license, the law is rarely adhered to for homebrewers, and homebrewing supplies are available from high street stores and websites.

• Beer and breweries by region

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beers of Japan.

• Directory of Japanese Brewers (RateBeer.com)